• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

This Means War is the second full-length from Northern Ireland's Bakken, one that finds them further refining their sound from their previous releases. In the past, they've written music based on the Iron Maiden template with Metallica-style vocals, but on This Means War they've adopted a more individual power/thrash approach. The riffs are muscular and propulsive, and the guitar tone is excellent. Singer Simon Pickett has stepped up his game and no longer sounds like James Hetfield, instead using what sounds like a more natural voice as he belts out some nice vocal lines. I can't point out one song over the others, so there isn't a touchstone on This Means War, but the overall songwriting is far superior to Bakken's past efforts and this record gives the impression of a band on the verge of breaking away from the pack. Fans of Vicious Rumors and early Helstar should give this one a listen.