PERTNESS – Frozen Time

Pure Legend Records

Pertness is a mighty strange name for a metal band. Maybe it describes the peaks of their native Bernese Highlands in Switzerland. They wear their local Bernese kilts on stage, apparently.

Or perhaps the name is inspired by their music. There’s a perky, irrepressible dynamic feel to Frozen Time, the band’s second album. The opener and title track suggests an uncomplicated, straightforward frolic through mainstream power metal, perhaps nodding towards the rhythmic metal and freeform riffing of Iron Maiden circa ‘The Trooper’ and ‘Running Free’.

And then it gets a bit more interesting. Some of the arrangements and melodic harmonies on ‘Farewell To The Past’ and ‘No More Messiah’ would not be out of place in the jigs and reels of a small acoustic tent tucked in a forgotten corner of the Cambridge Folk Festival. The hypnotic lead guitar melodies could easily be a dished out by a harder edged Big Country. The audacity of the fusion is either genius or madness. The album closer is a reworking of the traditional ‘The Star of the County Down’ with a flute intro that would have Ian Anderson purring; an aggressive power riff more in common with Scott Ian; and a lyrical sweep that inspired a whole Mike Scott back catologue. ‘Lost in Time’, I swear, is a track culled from the repertoire of an Elizabethan wandering minstrel reworked with a thumping guitar drive and gravelly vocal delivery that sort of, in a way, almost works.

Despite these curious folk influences, this remains a very accessible and enjoyable metal album, delivered in the fast lane with enthusiasm and belief. ‘Cold Wind of Death’ and ‘The Last Survival are piledriving charges through darker lyrical themes, delivered with gruff, unpolished barbs by vocalist Tom Schluchter. He and Tom Zurbrugg slot together seamlessly in the guitar department and the rhythm section is tight and functional. The production is clean and the songs are assured and largely uncomplicated, despite the folk references.

Pertness have melded an idiosyncratic and fresh slant on power metal with this album and deserve to take a step or two up the pecking order.

****

Dave Atkinson

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)