If old school hard rock and metal in the vein of The Rods, Budgie, Motorhead and Anvil is your thing, then check out Brazilian band Ambition.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Ambition (Brazil)
ALBUM: Rock Breaker
LABEL: Inferno Records
SERIAL: IR055CD
YEAR: 2020
CD INFO: Discogs Info List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Brazil
LINEUP: Mr. Mass – vocals, guitars * Marcel Little Bat – guitars * Gus F. – bass * Oconner Peart – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Ambition (Stronger Than Fear) [Instr] * 02 Rock Breaker * 03 Screaming In The Dark * 04 Play The Game * 05 Heroes Die Young * 06 Evil Burns * 07 Finger On The Trigger * 08 Heavy Revolution (Budgie cover) * 09 Fight For Your Life
RATING: 90/100
WEBLINKS: FB Page
Background
If old school hard rock and metal in the vein of The Rods, Budgie and Anvil is your thing, then check out Brazilian band Ambition. There’s nothing fancy in the image, just head on rock n roll full of crushing riffs and crunching guitars. It’s like 1981 all over again.
Formed in 2017, the boys from Curitiba (southwest of Sao Paulo) signed to French label Inferno Records a year later and released a two track single ‘Burning Love’ (coupled with ‘Danger Zone’) that same year. Their full length album would follow two years later, and what a mighty effort it is too.
The Songs
Surging past the instrumental opening track, Ambition load up the bullets into the chamber with the frenetic title track ‘Rock Breaker’, a Motorhead like excursion and one for the ages.
‘Screaming In The Dark’ is heavy and macabre all in one. The vocals are straight out of the Venom school of death metal though this isn’t death metal if you know what I mean.
‘Play The Game’ is my favourite track, the chainsaw guitar work borrowing heavily from Canadians Anvil. It was like listening to ‘Hard N Heavy’ all over again.
‘Heroes Die Young’ is (as you probably guessed) the albums anthem track, this is something that old faithfuls Saxon could’ve written back in the day, or even some of those Brit metallers signed to Neat or Ebony Records. ‘Evil Burns’ is definitely the macabre track here, with demonic vocals and lyrical imagery to match. I tune out to a lot of that stuff these days, however it chugs away admirably despite the message.
All guns are blazing on ‘Finger On The Trigger’ with steady riffs landing this one in the territory of The Rods. ‘Heavy Revolution’ is the cover of the Budgie track taken from their ‘Power Supply’ album. It’s a decent version but the original is still the one to surpass.
More glorious guitar riffs dominate ‘Fight For Your Life’, again Anvil are the reference point, time to grab those old Attic albums out again and refamiliarise myself with those Canuck classics.
In Summary
There’s an equal amount of NWOBHM and Euro Metal contained within. Listening to this will make you revisit the wardrobe to see if you still have that old Saxon tee-shirt and studded wristband stashed away – that is if the wife hasn’t secretly tossed them out years ago! Released on March 30th 2020, this one definitely bypassed our radar, but I’m glad we eventually picked it up, which is what you guys should do pronto. As the Brazilians will say: ‘Se apresse’.
Video
Play The Game
Rock Breaker
