Turbokill - Vice World - CD DIGIPAK

In an enlightened world, it must be allowed to ask how the musical succession to Metal legends like Judas Priest or Iron Maiden is to be realised. Or is the change of guards already under way? Following in the footsteps of the Metal giants of our era will by no means be an easy feat. Still, it must be done, and we need suitable candidates with a vision who align themselves with the long history of this music genre while taking their compositions and playing style into the future. TURBOKILL, the new formation of former Alpha Tiger vocalist Stephan Dietrich, could be such a candidate in the making. The German band comes with an exceptionally set of skills to drive forward a Heavy Metal style that is traditional yet modern. Is it too bold a thesis then, to name them as a contender? Hardly, especially since the 12 songs making up the group’s first album Vice World – to be released on 25th October 2019 by Steamhammer/SPV – beg to differ. The message comes across loud and clear: The future of the classic Heavy Metal has already begun! Vice World more than meets the expectations that TURBOKILL set with their EP back in 2018. Last year, the self-titled work was awarded impressive 9 out of 10 possible points by the trade journal ‘Deaf Forever’. In addition, TURBOKILL was one of the top 5 candidates for the support act to the 2018 ‘Metal Hammer Awards’. There must be something to the rumours going around about the new band being one of the most talented and most promising in this particular music genre. Stephan Dietrich has found four exceptional musicians in guitarists Ronny Schuster and Daniel Kanzler, bassist Marco ‘Fox’ Grünwald and drummer Philipp ‘Nafta’ Dießl, who all share his enthusiasm. “As far as sound goes, we took a leaf out of the book of Judas Priest’s Firepower”, Dietrich comments, purposefully raising the bar for Vice World. He and his four companions know all too well that only an ambitious band can achieve truly great things. “Right from the first rehearsal we knew we didn’t want to do things by half-measures”, Dietrich says. And indeed, there’s definitely nothing half-hearted about Vice World. With powerful songs like ‘Vice World’, ‘War Thunder’, ‘Turbokill’ or ‘End Of Days’ the young band pulls out all the stops and does justice to the term ‘Heavy Metal’ in every single note, while maintaining the intensity of their compositions even in their more moderate musical pieces like ‘Pulse Of The Swarm’, ‘Sail With Pirates’, ‘Track N’ Spy’ or ‘Global Monkey Show’. Even in their balladesque intro of ‘Don’t Deal With The Devil’ you can feel the blazing fire of 5 musicians who cleverly expand their stylistic range with modern grooves in ‘Kill The Lie’. TURBOKILL is not missing a beat with Vice World on a thematic level, either: ‘Global Monkey Show’ illustrates the general theme of the album lyrics. “I always felt that, as a Metal musician, it is my duty to question our seemingly flawless society”, Dietrich explains. “‘Global Monkey Show’ deals with our spending spree, our inflationary mentality of ‘buy, buy, buy’ which we criticise, if in an ironic way.” The same goes for ‘Track N’ Spy’ where TURBOKILL asks the question to what extend being always reachable by smartphone will make us not only mentally dependent but turn us into transparent citizens. “Everyone is permanently available but that means we can also be constantly monitored. Do we really want that?”, Dietrich asks. One thing is clear from Dietrich’s statement: TURBOKILL is a young band on a mission to give new momentum to the current Heavy Metal genre without taking away from its long and successful tradition. Seen in this light, Vice World merges past, present and future!