Conquestador
Unconscious Tales

June 2004
Released: 2004, Independent
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Waspman

It has long since become a tired cliché of heavy metal to look back to the 80s for musical inspiration (and sometimes blatant theft), with a never-ending glut of bands stealing every riff they can from Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, et al. Enter Conquestador. A group of five Dutch metalheads, the band have been kicking around for a couple of years and are doing their best to crack an over-full metal market. To these ears, releases like UNCONSCIOUS TALES will help them get there.

Kicking off with the raucous “Dark Angel”, a melodic, twin-guitar drenched speedball, the band quickly show off their chops, despite the somewhat thin production. What really comes through though is the band’s obvious enthusiasm for playing metal. Like another fresh band, Goat Horn, Conquestador’s music oozes with energy and the love of metal. With every riff and every vocal line from Wido de Klein you can just tell that these guys just love every second of each song.

Luckily, the songs are good enough that the average listener will enjoy ‘em too! Each of the four songs presented here kick ass, if somewhat derivatively. “A Killer’s Confession” begins with a slow, quiet intro, much like Iron Maiden has been over-doing for the last decade, before kicking into high gear, also like Iron Maiden. Copy-catting sure, but at least it’s well-done copy-catting.

If these guys can develop an identity of their own, they will be a force to be reckoned with, because they’ve got the drive, and they’ve got the chops. This is an excellent introduction to the band, and a fun metal disc in its own right.