Ram were founded in 1999, by men who wanted to play real heavy metal, not any of the nonsense that was being classed as metal at the time. Their latest offering Rod, helps show that they were serious about this mission. The album cover, with the skull of a ram, headbutting through the fire, creates a great first impression.
Declaration Of Independence is a roaring opening song, filled with defiance, growls, ballsy riffs and downright savagery that serves as a fine opening track. On Wings of No Return contains swaggering groove laden riffs, whilst allowing vocalist Oscar to shine through blaring vocal lines. Gulag is heavy, pure and simple, it is a great song to lose oneself to. A Throne At Midnight is anthemic, the band has found a song that could make it a stadium band in this song, everything clicks on this track and it works so very well.
The Ramrod saga begins with Anno Infinitus, a 2 minute song that brings in the theme of the next few numbers and sends the listener into anticipation. Ignitor has the haunting flavour of Black Sabbath mixed with the epicness of Maiden, another song that has gotten the potential to turn Ram into a stadium band. The Cease To Be has harmonised doom written all over it, from the tone of the guitars, the soloing that brings precision and melancholy, to the vocals with their searing heat and their Rob Halford esque tone. Voices of Death is another shorter number that sets up Incinerating Storms nicely, what with the fade and the heaviness coming to boot. Ashes is the final song on the record and it fades nicely as the outro.
Rod, is where metal goes right, heaviness, lyrical certainty, melody and pure brazeness. If this album does not make Ram a household name then there is something definitely wrong with the music industry. A brilliant album from start to finish, a solid ten.