Killers (FRA) - Cités interdites (1992)^{Release ID: 15390}

This underground French Speed Metal band really shocked me here. Cites Interdites is a fantastic combo of aggressive Speed Metal, melodic Heavy Metal and a huge emphasis on soaring, dual guitar leads and solos.

I have to say outright, the solos on this album are some of the best I’ve ever heard, and the amazing thing is every song features at least one insanely good and memorable solo without any of them feeling like they’re treading the same ground. I’m actually reminded of Japanese band Anthem, who have a knack for writing (in my opinion) the best guitar solos in metal. This French band has a very melodic style quite reminiscent of Japanese Metal, but a unique aggressive edge to it, most prominent in the vocals and drumming.

The drumming is really insane here, and I actually thought it might be a drum machine because it’s so precise. Not that it’s blowing Tech Death away or anything, but there’s a nice depth and fluidity that accompany the usual machinegunning speed. The bass is a bit buried, but if you’ve got good equipment you can get a great taste of basswork going on underneath all those guitar leads.

One weakness here – a few songs have verses and choruses that aren’t so strong. No Man’s Land is an obvious offender here, having a very basic and dare I say boring structure with weak riffs and a poor chorus. However, it is definitely saved by an amazing guitar solo halfway through that goes on quite a while… all of the weaker songs share this trait. If you like guitar solos, there’s really not a track you can hate because they all have such amazing soloing thrown in somewhere. Unfortunately the B-side is slightly weaker which is a pet peeve for me, but the opening track (after the Intro) is about as flawless as Speed Metal gets.