Italian band UNREAL TERROR was a fairly short-lived unit who released a demo tape, an EP and an album in quick succession before the band folded when two of the central members moved to the US, according to the biographical sources I’ve come across about them. “Hard Incursion” was their sole full length album, initially released in 1986. This 2014 edition released by Italian label Jolly Roger Records comes with 4 bonus tracks.
My initial reaction to this production is that it must have been a rather hard sell back in 1986. This is a band whose name will fuel certain expectations about the music, released in an era where metal bands were still pounding their chests gorilla style shouting how important it was to keep it real, swearing their loyalty to the metal brigade and generally being expected to come across with more than a wee bit of swagger. Then this band comes along, with a sound and a style that I suspect many wouldn’t even describe as metal, despite some rather obvious musical references, first and foremost to Iron Maiden and Queensryche.
A core trait for this band, by accident or design, is a starkly toned down, dry guitar sound. More often than not the guitars comes across as tight to the point of having an acoustic guitar sheen to it, with plucked individual notes with just a careful amount of distortion applied, far from the rich, massive riff resonances that was and is so much a staple of heavy metal. Just about the only element that makes this album a metal one rather than a rock one as far as such issues go are the blazing guitar soloing, and some occasional riff arrangements here and there with a bit more bite to them. While the fairly weak mix and production may have had their part to play here, this album comes across as one made on a tight budget and most likely without the most state of the art recording studio available to boot, I get the feeling that the basic sound here is one that is more a result of design rather than an accidental one, and as such I salute this band in retrospect for being a brave one. Foolhardy too perhaps, as again I can hear fairly easily that this album must have been a hard sell when it was released, but impressively brave by a band that oriented themselves towards a metal audience.
The songs themselves are rather enjoyable, as long as you manage to get over the fact that this is a band with a much more toned down sound than ordinary. Early Iron Maiden appears to be a strong influence, but perhaps just as important if not even more so is early Queensryche. “Hard Incursion” is an album that share many similar features with the latter’s album “The Warning” in terms of mood and atmosphere, how songs develop and especially in terms of vocals: Luciano Palermi is a more than able vocalist, comparable to Geoff Tate in his heyday. I get the impression that this was a band that was developing from a more Iron Maiden tinged style towards a more Queensryche oriented one in general, and that if they had kept on going chances are that they would have ended up as a first generation progressive metal band in the end. The bonus tracks included here cements this impression for me, all of them longer creations more developed and sophisticated in nature, but alas suffering from being of demo quality mix and production wise.
All in all “Hard Incursion” is an enjoyable album, a tad too weak in the mix and production department to fire on all cylinders but showcasing a brave band with a compelling and rather sophisticated style for a metal band active in the mid 80’s, their peculiar dry, toned down take on classic era Iron Maiden blended with early Queensryche one the adventurous metal fan might want to investigate. Queensryche was described by critics back in the day as metal for those that think they have tired of the genre, much the same can be said about this production.
My rating: 73/100
