Artist: Cruel Force
Country: Germany
Label: Shadow Kingdom Records
Formats: LP / Cassette / CD
Year: 2026
It didn’t take Cruel Force a decade-long hiatus this time to return with album number four. After 2023 saw the release of their third album ‘Dawn of the Axe’, we can already brace ourselves for the newest addition to the discography, ‘Haneda’. And one glance at the cover artwork give us a sign that the newest album is in line with ‘Dawn of the Axe’, once again depicting an ancient place of worship. And indeed, musically the ancient feeling is key to what Cruel Force stands for. Sometimes, in oriental touches to the riffs that have a sense of Egypt to them, but mostly in the band’s utmost devotion to worship of ancient Heavy Metal. Above all, ‘Haneda’ further builds on the musical legacy of ‘Dawn of the Axe’. That means a further shift of the emphasis of the band towards Heavy Metal and Speed Metal in comparison to their earliest records. On ‘Haneda’, the uptempo riff barrage of Agent Steel, Exodus and Kreator is mixed with the grandeur of Iron Maiden, Rainbow and Dio. An obvious further development of the formula is in the vocals. While Carnivore still added a raw touch to his vocals on ‘Dawn of the Axe’, on ‘Haneda’ that has been entirely cast aside. He does a great job at it, but it does feel like a further change of identity, with the rawness of their music now strictly coming from the menacing Speed Metal.
A track like ‘Whips-A-Swinging’ starts in pure Speed Metal fury, fast and catchy with a delightful drum sound. Halfway it twists into a more oriental riff with a tinge of Megadeth, only to end with its original fire. ‘Savage Gods’ marries a Maiden-esque opening riff with galloping Speed Metal, carrying a more epic sing-along tone as it progresses. That same epic feeling resonates in ‘Swords of Iron’, a ripping track in which the Rainbow-like atmosphere is reflected in the use of keyboards underneath the melodic Heavy Metal guitar solos. After a sitar intro, ‘Crystal Skull’ starts off with an excellent Thrashy riff. Entirely instrumental, guitar player Slaughter leaves no moment unused to show off his great melodic sense of soloing, with the pulsating rhythmic section propelling the song forward. ‘Warlords’ then opens more in the vein of Dio with some Egyptian theme, before it bursts back and forth into Speed Metal mode. Indeed, as the track title suggests, it reminds me quite a bit of the work of the band Warlord. ‘Black Talon’ is a mostly uptempo banger, ferocious and catchy until the tempo slows down drastically and all the feeling is poured into the solo. The game ends with a catchy Thrash banger in the shape of ‘Titan’s Awakening’, with high pitched ripping riffs and rolling drums. But as the album draws to a close, the song piles on a few melodies before one last hoorah and the end of another Cruel Force record.
‘Haneda’ is filled with excellent Speed and Heavy Metal, but, and this is quite a big but, it does signal a further departure from the first two albums. While in retrospect the signs were already abundant on ‘Dawn of the Axe’, it is now clear that there are two periods of Cruel Force. The first, consisting of the first two albums ‘The Rise of Satanic Might’ and ‘Under the Sign of the Moon’, with Blackened Thrash that carried obvious influences of Venom, Bathory, Motörhead, Sodom, Possessed and Celtic Frost. And the second coming represented by ‘Dawn of the Axe’ and ‘Haneda’, a sound more influenced by 80’s Heavy, Thrash and Speed Metal that blends ripping Teutonic Thrash Metal and Speed Metal and some Heavy metal grandeur. This division of time and style doesn’t necessarily have to be a problem, because there is a big constant in this all, the true essence of Cruel Force: a total dedication to authentic 80’s Metal, brought through catchy tracks and excellent riffs.
Though more than ever, I do feel that this is where each individual listener will have to cast their judgement. Will you go for the rawer, Blackened Thrash of the first albums? Or the more Speed oriented sound of ‘Haneda’? Or do you go for pure authenticity and riffs for days and embrace the entire body of work of the band?
