Straight out of Vancouver, Canada, Maule are a Canadian metal band that I have never once heard before but after getting the promo for this self titled album, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised on how articulated and catchy this record truly was. Now, Maule’s style of metal is a variety of different genres including heavy metal and speed metal with wide influences of European and American bands. Maule have definitely reinvigorated the musical soundscapes of the early to mid 80s but with a fresh, natural and energetic twist making it one of the most exhilarating albums to come out of 2022.
Since the British heavy metal scene spawned over forty decades in existence, Maule’s musical stylings and compositional work have laid the groundwork for both the European and American metal scenes that not only escalated and shape-shifted other bands we know today such as Iron Maiden, Running Wild, Accept, Saxon, Judas Priest and many more to come. Stylistically, this is a heavy metal riffage album where it is full of wonderful guitar melodies and the instrumental leads from every instrument provided is catchy, jazzy at times and some classical signatures in the mix is something I really like hearing in the heavy metal bands where they incorporate symphonic and power metal elements into the songwriting but that’s another story.
Maule’s arrangements, compositional work and craftsmanship on this album is nothing but fantastic as these Canadians truly feel they’re on their way to be a name for themselves for years to come. Tracks like Sword Woman, Summoner, Evil Eye and Father Time is stacked with thrash metal styled guitar riffs, anthemic choruses, razor-sharp like drum tones and mid-tempo leads that remind me bit of Angel Witch and for a underground band showcasing how young these musicians are compassionate in creating wild and enthusiastic music, Maule’s self titled release is a catchy, groovy and very polished sounding albums for 2022 that will satisfy any fans of heavy, speed and thrash metal
Overall Score: 8.5/10
Review by Jake Butler
