Review by SilentScream213 for Scanner - Hypertrace (1988)

There are a couple metal albums that got the sci-fi label in the 80’s simply for having one song about space (or god forbid, featuring a cyborg on the cover), but Scanner’s Hypertrace is the first true sci-fi metal album. Every song here follows the theme, and the music is melodic and speedy, very fitting for laser space battles. The sci-fi theme does give them a bit of a niche, but even that aside, the music here is fantastic, each song delivering great riffs and infectious choruses. Despite the fun fantasy nature of it, there are themes of revenge, hatred, and extermination throughout that can actually be taken rather seriously.

Consistency is key here, as not only is everything laden with sci-fi themes, but each song is great, despite varying enough in sound, speed and structure to keep everything from sounding too samey. A very well-done debut.