Rampart – WWII: Memories For The Future

Rampart
WWII: Memories For The Future
Sleaszy Rider Records
July 2^nd, 2021
Playing time: 48:26

They come from the Bulgarian capital Sofia. Rampart. Founded in 2006 by singer Maria Doychinova aka Maria Diese. They have written classic heavy metal on their banners. Five albums have been released so far. Some songs have also been released on samplers. After a five-year break, “WWII: Memories Of The Future” was released at the beginning of July. The title of the album matches the lyric themes mentioned on Encyclopaedia Metallum – war, social control. A few days ago, I received an email from the singer asking me to listen to this album more closely.

There are quite a few bands that deal with the subject of battles and wars. Rampart are among the representatives who take a harder approach. 80s-style Heavy Metal, without all the bombast that Sabaton, for example, offer. You can already hear this clearly in the opener “June 22nd”. Riffs every minute, strong drumming and a singer who sounds like a mixture of Aura Dănciulescu (Scarlet Aura), Marta Gabriel (Crystal Viper), Nina Osegueda (A Sound of Thunder) and Liv Jagrell (Sister Sin, Liv Sin). With a powerful voice, she stands her ground against the instrumental elemental force. A midtempo rocker to start with, crowned by a good guitar solo. With “Napalm Stars” the Bulgarians move into Speed Metal spheres. Later on, too, variety is written in capital letters. Whether classic heavy metal (“Entropy Of Mind”, “Twice Occupied”), thrash (“Luftraum”), NWOBHM (“Stormtalkers”), metal anthem (“Overcast Omen”) or even rock’n’roll (“Harleys In Berlin”). The band has a huge musical range.

“WWII: Memories For The Future” is a varied album. The sound is adapted to the respective theme. With a young band, I would call this stylistic range a “finding phase”, but here the diversity is probably due to the serious subject matter of this concept album. Maybe the musicians just want to show that they are able to present different genres authentically. Anyway, this is a very listenable album that I would like to recommend to every metal fan.

Rampart – Now We Are One: https://youtu.be/BuoxQVDb85Y

Lineup:

Maria “Diese” Doychinova – Vocals
Yavor Despotov – Guitar
Liubomir Boev – Live Guitar
Victor Georgiev – Bass, Guitar
Asen Stoyanov – Drums

Track list:

• June 22nd
• Napalm Stars
• Entropy Of Mind
• Twice Occupied
• Luftraum
• Stormtalkers
• Wolfsrudel
• Overcast Omen
• Harleys In Berlin
• Black Sun
• Now We Are One