Our interview with Heavymetal.about.com

Blitzenhamer: Pawns of the Predator

From: Splattergod’s Dark Domain
Keith Suchland
10610 N. 30th ST #36D
Tampa, FL 33612 USA
http://www.geocities.com/splattergod/

Ready for a change of pace? How about a trip back thru time to metal's beginnings? How about some just cool sounding metal? Well if you answered yes to any of the 3 questions, then this demo is for your. These four road warriors aren't out to change the world.
They don't have illusions of future stardom. No, they just want to rock, pure and simple. 12 songs combining Steppenwolf and power metal.
The vocals are very reedy and take some getting used to. If you see the singer's pic on the CD you would think he would be more at home in Crowbar or Pro-pain; yet when he sings, it throws you. Not that he sounds bad, quite the contrary. He has a unique voice for metal, and it really works.
The music is top notch. Nice sounding, well executed licks, with some memorable leads. The bass really keeps the rhythym flowing and the drums keep time perfectly.
The mix sounds good and well balanced. The packaging is professional looking with a cool full color insert, complete with band pics and info, lyrics and some great artwork. The song titles seem more in tune with a death metal or thrash release but it's better than your typical hair band/arena rock crap, don't cha think? If you are looking for a change of pace from death metal/black metal or you long for some good old fashioned heavy metal, then give Blitzenhamer a listen.

BLITZENHAMER

Pawns Of The Predator
Indie

WOW! Great CD cover, cool name, can we go wrong here? No, these guys play an ultracool mix of good old thrash in the well known Bay Area style, and heavy metal. The band was formerly known as SS DAGGER.

And already from the intro on, you know that this is great stuff. It grabs you by the throat once the alarm goes off in the beginning of opener
“The Major”. “Tunnel Rat” is fast and speed records are broken here. “Chamber Of Horrors” ending is a bit chaotic maybe.
But who cares when you hear the rest of these great songs. And when you hear the air raids go off in “Alienus Maximus”, then you’ll know it for sure.
There’s absolutely no one who can escape from the claws of BLITZENHAMER. Once they’ve caught you, they simply won’t let loose.
“The Northstar Rapist” has a strong piece of guitar playing at the end. “WW III” ends this fifty minutes thrash attack.

After that I suggest you just press the replay button for the best result. Here and there the vocals reminded me of good old SACRED REICH singer Phil Rind, which is a compliment.
The band consists of Fritz Patrick on vocals, eyes painted black so he won’t be recognised when he’s out up front chasing his innocent victims.
Drummer is Douglas Texeira, who’s dressed in an old SS DAGGER t-shirt. On bass we have the Tim Cardoza, together with Douglas he forms the unbeatable rhythm section.
The guitarplayer of this very well talented band is Len Goldschmidt. Watch his guns ‘cause he’s a sharp shooter.
Don’t mess with this band, ‘cause they have only one goal. They put it in one short slogan which is easy to remember: HEAVY METAL FOREVER.

What more can I say? Anything that isn’t said here about BLITZENHAMER can be found at www.blitzenhamer.com.
Hail BLITZENHAMER, they’re gonna get you, no matter when. Thanks go out to Len and the rest of the band for making this review possible. Look out for an interview with this band in one of our upcoming issues!!!!

(TvP) Reviewed for Snakepit #9/2001
By: Toine van Poorten