Since the last ten years Sweden’s AMBUSH have been creating an electrified baseball bat of ’80s metal nostalgia, that sweet 1981-1984 classic heavy metal style updated with a modern sound. Now with Napalm Records as new record label, the band is releasing their new full-length titled ”Evil In All Dimensions”.
Having Napalm Records behind now AMBUSH is sure to get major exposure, wider distribution. But also more pressure perhaps? Can their fourth release deliver half as much unfiltered ’80s glory as its predecessors? The answer is yes!
Ambush go for the throat on the opening title track, and it’s a glorious mash-up of 80s metal and Euro-power. It’s high-energy, speedy, and full of top-flight guitar work as Oskar Jacobsson showcases his Don Dokken-meets-Joey Tempest vocal magic in all dimensions. The chorus is weirdly addictive, and the whole thing is just pure metal excess. It will also remind you why you like metal in the first place, and that’s just awesome.
Then the really BIG stuff hits with second cut “Maskirovka.” It’s a righteous throwback gem that sounds like Iron Maiden wrote an enormous anthem for Europe. There’s a huge dramatic gallop, muscular riffs, and Jacobsson’s laser-like voice piercing through everything. It’s a song you hear once and fall in love with.
But wait, there’s more. “Iron Sign” sounds like a long-lost cut from Cities’ stellar 1986 Annihilation Absolute opus, and the riff-work here is relentlessly awesome.
The hits keep on coming, with “The Reaper” going so old school, it almost leaves the 80s entirely to visit the early Rainbow days for a stadium-shaking retro-raging beast you couldn’t kill with 10,000 steely knives. The guitars are so slick and tasty here, you’ll never want them to stop noodling.
“Bending the Steel” brings the unstoppable riffage of early Grave Digger to the battle and shells your brain until you scream for more. Things leave on a high note with “Heavy Metal Brethren,” which is another high-octane burner purpose-built to rock your skull bones.
Are there stumbles? I suppose power ballad “I Fear the Blood” is less thrilling than its peers, but it serves its purpose by changing the tempo and giving you a breather. “Come Angel of Night” is frantic fun but a touch less hook-tastic; but otherwise, I have no complaints.
When the album’s 40 minutes expire, you’ll wish there was more, and with every song in the 4-5 minute window, the writing is sharp and designed to sink hooks and depart. This is what makes Ambush such a throwback pleasure. They know their game, play it hard, and flee into the night, leaving you spent, sweaty, and satisfied.
That’s metal, folks.
Highly Recommended
1. Evil in All Dimensions
2. Maskirovka
3. Iron Sign
4. The Night I Took Your Life
5. I Fear the Blood
6. Come Angel of Night
7. The Reaper
8. Bending The Steel
9. Heavy Metal Brethren
Olof Engqvist – Guitars & Backing vocals
Karl Dotzek – Guitars & Backing vocals
Oskar Andersson – Bass, vocals & Backing vocals
Linus Fritzson – Drums & Backing vocals
Oskar Jakobsson – Vocals
Ambush – Evil in All Dimensions 2025, MP3+FLAC , CD-Rip
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