Final Axe have quite a long and convoluted history dating back to the 1980’s and The Axe of the Apostles is their “lost” CD which has been in the offing for many a long year. Apparently, Bill Menchen’s home studio, Twin Blade Studio has finally evolved technologically to the point where all the tracks could be done some justice. It may be easy for me to suggest that most of these tracks should have stayed in the vaults but, as Hughie Green used to say, “I mean that most sincerely.” 

Axe of the Apostles is much heavier than Menchen’s work with Titanic (who also feature vocalist Simon Tyler) but crucially, much less tuneful or likable. Whereas the recent Titanic record Full Steam Ahead featured a number of memorable songs, that is sadly not the way here.

 Everything is a little one-paced a formulaic. There’s not a single track that jumps out and begs for repeated listens. Perhaps the lack of cohesion could be down to the fact much of the music was actually recorded in 1990 or perhaps it’s because the songs just aren’t very good. 

Even the brilliantly named Metal Missionaries fails to do it. Like much of the rest of the album it is very well-played but ultimately unmemorable. The best song is Vengeance is Mine which initially feels lie it’s going to be doomtastic like Nebula but eventually wakes up to be catchier than the rest. 

Occasionally I feel that there are waaaaaaaaay too many metal releases shoved out on the unsuspecting public that lack any real standout features and sadly, this is one of them.

Simon Bray