Artist: Lead Injector
Country: Germany
Label: High Roller Records
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2026
In times when everything around us is becoming more complicated and developments are sometimes taking on frightening speeds, it is sometimes nice to embrace the simple things in life. Personally, I still love cassette tapes, vinyl records, printed fanzines, paper books, and black-and-white films from before 1970 the most. You could call it escapism, but it gives me a comforting feeling that there is still something that allows me to escape the daily rat race. Although I’m not averse to progressive or experimental sounds in metal, I find that, just like with films, I’m increasingly going back to basics. I’d rather listen to Venom’s first two albums than the new Winterfylleth, to name but one example. In that same comfort zone, where musical boundaries are not stretched but respected, I can now also welcome Lead Injector.
This young band from Germany has more in common with Desaster and old Sodom than with the fancy entry-level stuff like Hellripper or any other hipster band being sold as “old school”. Besides leaning obviously to the musical side of Onslaught, Exumer, Exciter, Rigor Mortis and Exorcist, Lead Injector also fully adapts the aesthetics that should come with package. Their proto-corpse paint, bullet belts and leather ‘n’ chains sets them firmly apart from many of their Decibel Magazine featured peers who might know how to write a riff, but not how to make it work.
‘Witching Attack’ is a 45-minute tribute to 80s metal in basically all its forms during that era. That more or less means that whether you like proto-Black Metal like Venom or the earliest incarnations of Death Metal like Deceased, Possessed, Slaughter, Death and Nunslaughter, there is something of your liking here. But especially if you love your 80s metal thrashy with hints of classic Speed Metal you are in for a treat.
This all makes Lead Injector a good alternative to go for if you think Cruel Force has gone too much into Heavy Metal territories with their last two albums (including the new and upcoming album on Shadow Kingdom Records). This comparison is especially apt because of Leo’s savage vocal delivery, that harkens back to the proto-grunts of the likes of Possessed’s Jeff Becerra. It doesn’t only add to the music’s overall feeling of authenticity, it also provides more punch. It goes without saying that Leo’s more violent vocal antics on ‘Witching Attack’ mean that the music appeals to a potentially larger audience.
‘Witching Attack’ is certainly not about Heavy Metal licks or guitar tandems; the simple but effective riffs have more in common with Punk Rock than with, for example, Judas Priest. Just listen to the title track, which has more Ramones in it than anything you would classify as typical Heavy Metal. Even when there’s some catchy melodies and falsetto screams, it is all about the punchy riffs and pounding rhythms.
If you want to convince yourself, just listen to the opening track and then try to deny that your subconscious is already humming along with “nucleaaaarr winterrrrrr”. Welcome to my comfort zone guys.
