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Review: Martyr (Hol) - Planet Metalhead
Martyr (Hol)
www.martyronline.nl
Planet Metalhead

Label: Toxic Death Records
Year released: 2022
Duration: 50:41
Tracks: 10
Genre: Heavy Metal

Rating:
4.25/5


Review online: March 18, 2022
Reviewed by: MetalMike
Readers' Rating
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Rated 4.43/5 (88.57%) (7 Votes)
Review

The last thing I heard from The Netherlands' Martyr was their 2009 Fear the Universe compilation, which consisted of their debut album plus five new songs. I liked the songs from the debut a lot more than the new stuff and ended my review by expressing my hope for more old-school metal. Well, Martyr have delivered on Planet Metalhead, their fifth full-length album and third since reforming in 2001.

Like the debut, Martyr play '80s-style pounding heavy metal with thick riffs, pummeling drums and high, clear vocals. Singer Robert van Haren has a wide-ranging voice and alternates between some spot-on early Queensrÿche vocal lines and Vicious Rumors wails. The plaintive singing and slow tempos on "No Time for Goodbyes" and the vocal effects at the beginning of "Church of Steel" evoke Rage for Order/Operation: Mindcrime, but on "La Diabla" they pick up the pace and van Haren rides the galloping riffs, wailing like Jon Cyriis or Carl Albert. I don't mean to insinuate Martyr are simply recycling these bands, their songwriting is truly their own, but the influences are there. The album ends with another obvious influence, which is weirdly U2. The song "Wings in a Darkened Soul" sounds like something from The Joshua Tree with simple guitar work and falsetto vocals. It's not a bad song, it just feels a little out of place after the preceding nine tracks of ass-kicking heavy/power/thrash metal. If you like early Queensrÿche and Vicious Rumors, I can't imagine you not enjoying Planet Metalhead. Martyr have done a superb job of following existing paths yet maintaining a sound that is distinctly their own. Writing a bunch of great songs doesn't hurt either.

More about Martyr (Hol)...
Review: Fear the Universe (reviewed by MetalMike)
Interview with guitarist Rick Bouwman on November 19, 2021 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
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