Band:	Marshall Law
Album:	Razorhead
Style:	Heavy metal, Power metal
Release date:	October 2008
A review by:	Jeff

01. The Summoning
02. Razorhead
03. Premonition
04. Headtrap
05. Gods Of Deception
06. Night Terror
07. The Chamber
08. Divides Us
09. Nothing Lasts Forever
10. Devil's Anvil
11. Blood And Pain
12. Another Bullet
13. Bloodlines
14. Hell On Earth
15. Necromancer

Marshall Law is an old combo from United Kingdom (formed in 1988 if I'm not wrong) but they've never been really popular and famous unfortunately. The guys have however released four albums from 1990 to 1999 and after a break of nine years they're finally back with their new production, "Razorhead". I will not talk about mega originality here but honestly this new release is not a bad album of Power Heavy Metal. This is thrashy, dark and violent and if it's not original this is good to listen to it at least.

Even if Marshall Law is labelled as a Power Heavy Metal band, the British combo doesn't play in the category of the melodic Power Metal European combos. On "Razorhead" you'll be able to find real big violent riffs with big rhythmic lines; this is not so fast actually and a bit mid tempo but this is really heavy and loud. I like the fact that this album is extremely dark you'll not find any happy choruses and in the end we're not so far away of Thrash Metal which is a good thing for me. Though, "Razorhead" is not so perfect, sure the style of the music is really cool and we have good songs like "Gods Of Deception" or "Blood And Pain" but the album is a bit linear and repetitive and this is not the average ballad "Nothing Lasts Forever" which will change my general feeling. With "Razorhead", Marshall Law gives a good album but not a perfect one, this is cool to listen to it but you'll not have any big surprises and I'm not sure that a lot of songs will stay in your memory in reason of the lack of big hits.

The production of the release is not so perfect. I cannot say that it's bad but sometime this is not really well mixed and a bit too loud. This is not bad though but could be better of course. The line up is only composed of two original members, Andy Pike and Dave Martin but the three other members are convincing and it's hard to blame the band for anything here. No really "Razorhead" only lacks a bit of originality and craziness and I have the feeling that the band is able to do something really better. If they can still play such Power Metal and do something a bit more unconventional it should become great.

Marshall Law's come back is not so bad. Their new release is not the album of the year but this is a good album of aggressive Power Metal. I won't say that it's a must but if you want to listen to dark and powerful Power Metal, have a look on "Razorhead" and you shouldn't be disappointed.