Mean Streak: Blind Faith (HighVolMusic)

Swedish traditional metal warriors Mean Streak are back with a new album, their fourth to date, titled Blind Faith. The band features Andy LaGuerin on vocals, former Axia bassist Peter Andersson, Torchbearer guitarist Thomas Johansson and drummer Jonas Kallsback of The Night Flight Orchestra. Mean Streak has always had a good, solid, old school heavy metal sound, but with the Max Norman-prioduced Blind Faith they took a big step forward.

The previous Mean Streak albums are really good, and show a strong Iron Maiden/Saxon/NWOBHM influence. That’s still present on Blind Faith, but this is a remarkably more melodic effort akin to recent Praying Mantis albums. LaGuerin continues to improve as a singer, and he just shines here, backed quite effectively by Andersson and Kallsback. In addition to powerful vocals, the guitar melodies on this album are irresistible, with a classic Dokken vibe at times. The lyrics still have a lot of ’80s metal cheesiness, but it suits these songs so well. “Retaliation Call,” “Tear Down the Walls” and “Fire at Will” are a few standouts, but this whole album is very satisfying.

Traditional metal albums, as a rule, tend to be fairly melodic, but with Blind Faith Mean Streak has come up with the perfect mix of classic metal and melodic hard rock. It’s polished, catchy, powerful and best of all is loaded with songs that stick with you after the disc stops spinning. This is an album that will please fans of traditional metal bands like Walpyrgus, Twisted Tower Dire, Enforcer and Widow as well as melodic hard rock bands like Praying Mantis and Pretty Maids.