Sign Of The Jackal - Survivors - LP

Since 2007, Italy’s SIGN OF THE JACKAL have been carrying the torch for traditional, female-fronted HEAVY METAL of an authentically mid ‘80s vintage. Over the past 15 years, they’ve played stages all over Europe and delivered two full-lengths – 2013’s Mark of the Beast and 2018’s DYING VICTIMS-released Breaking the Spell – along with a preceding demo and EP: not too shabby for a band who began, humbly enough, with covers of obscure underground metal songs from the ‘80s! Naturally, the electric vocals of Laura DemonsQueen are front and center, but SIGN OF THE JACKAL’s gleaming chrome pulses with pure mid-‘80s speed metal energy, all injected with a heaping helping of classic ‘70s Italian horror atmosphere.

Now, a too-long six years since their last full-length, SIGN OF THE JACKAL are about to unleash their ultimate statement: Heavy Metal Survivors. The title itself is both a perfect summation of their sound and a loose thematic for the album’s post-apocalyptic atmosphere…total ‘80s-style, of course! Each song is gassed up with enough energy to roam the wasteland for days on end, but what sets SIGN OF THE JACKAL’s third album apart from its predecessors is its HOOKS; be it because the more-patient pacing or the space between notes ringing more richly, Heavy Metal Survivors’ eight vocal-led tracks retain a catchiness that’s so engaging and engrossing, it’s not impertinent to suggest that they could’ve landed on the radio circa 1986…late night, of course! And while SIGN OF THE JACKAL’s aesthetic signposts haven’t changed all that much since the last album – or the beginning, for that matter, as Warlock’s True as Steel remains a huge influence – LP#3 moves the Italians even closer to classic Dokken at their speediest as well as Tokyo Blade, Virgin Steele, Finland’s OZ, America’s Abattoir and Chastain or even W.A.S.P. at the leanest and meanest. Through it all, though, there’s that FEELING: of fun, of glory, of eternal obeisance to the electrical currents of classic metal that remain etched in stone to a specific era in a specific way, raised up and reborn with vitality and vigor. Those who know, know, and they’re among the Heavy Metal Survivors!