Substratum: Permission To Rock (Divebomb)

You don’t often see a band drop a new full-length album and a new EP in the same year, let alone at the same time, but that’s exactly what Seattle-based traditional heavy metal band Substratum has done. In addition to their very solid Stratosphere EP, they delivered their second full-length album, titled Permission To Rock.

Permission To Rock is a great name for this album, not just because it’s fun in an old school kind of way, but it reflects the more rocking sound this album has over some of the other Substratum material. It’s still a metal album, but like those classic ‘80s metal albums, it walks the line between rock and metal. I get a Malice and Savage Grace vibe, and given their powerhouse female vocalist Amy Lee Carlson it’s hard not to think of Leather and Chastain. The lyrics have plenty of classic style cheesiness, especially “Rough Rider,” “Zero To Infinity” and “Exxtremer (Permission To Rock),” but that’s part of what makes this such a fun album.

So yeah, permission granted. If you grabbed the band’s debut or liked their material on last year’s Masters of Metal compilation, Permission To Rock will not disappoint. If you’re new to the band but dig bands like Malice, Savage Grace, Judas Priest, Chastain and Leather, Substratum is a band worth discovering.