Zepter1, the band calls itself. The four-piece from Austria saw the light of day in 2024, and their vocation is – hold on to something – Heavy Metal of all genres. In the short time since 2026 came into focus, the RMR crew already covered a bunch of them, some faring better, whereas others didn’t really cut it.
The RMR crew truly has a penchant for this genre. And we will continue to cover bands, famous or not, sporting the good ol’ art of Ze Original Metal. So, this time, Zepter, the band’s self-titled shorty of an album, will face the heartless scrutiny of the old geezers over at the RMR Review Desk. Will it cut the mustard, or will the Slasher of the Highway have his fill? Fire up the chainsaw!
Zepter, the band, have understood one thing. Reasonable velocity earns you brownie points in Heavy Metal. So, the aforementioned slasher track already takes off with some gusto. To make a point, I reckon. Not in any overblown fashion, but at about the right speed to scratch their NWOBHM2 itch they’re purported to suffer from. And indeed, right from the start, Zepter rush off into the blue yonder. Brandishing a style that delivers their trademark sound covering – and I quote – “…authentic heavy metal of the old school.” Check.
Whenever the RMR crew fired up the record, early vibes of Saxon and even earlier musings of Iron Maiden fought for space in our metal-damaged leftover brain cells. The band further claims that their style should “…come across like a mixture of Thin Lizzy and UFO of the Schenker era, combined with elements of early speed metal by the likes of Acid and Slayer.” Wow, that’s quite a statement. Some Thin Lizzy and Slayer can indeed be found in there, true. But there’s gonna be a gazillion miles of rough road to travel to even get close to Schenker-era UFO levels.3
It is also true that, to their credo, Zepter throws a pretty wild chunk of well-known early Heavy Metal at their fanbase. Gallops galore, typical chugging and juicy riffs, tastily downturned guitars, and the odd high-pitched solo here and there. Drums and roaring bass are exactly on par with what was promised earlier. The avid metal fan will get a fair amount of mileage out of tracks such as The Exterminator or Dark Angels. So, them lonesome cowboys of early metal could sit back, relax, and ride into the sunset. Right? Well, no,not quite.
All ingredients are readily available for a great album, true. But Zepter here took the idea of a barebones production a bridge too far. In the past, Heavy Metal often suffered from an overabundance of scrawny bones and a lack of red meat to throw to the audience. So, a lot of bands went and upped the energy levels beyond mere caffeine. They ramped up songsmithing and hit the next galaxy with improved axe work. And then they threw in a screamer to garner everyone’s attention to the point of losing yer eardrums, and went for it with a vengeance.
In contrast, Zepter‘s self-titled record sounds like the mother of all garage productions. A gaunt, skeletal gaggle of tracks greets you with a mix that mercilessly slams the last ounce of axework to the very front.4 Thus, the ever medium-range vocal performance dwells somewhere in the background. And that – sadly – sounds as if it were recorded in a bathroom or something. Oh, and why in the wide metal fucking planet’s world did they choose to cover this Screem atrocity called Lonely Night? Right, I don’t know either. So, all of that turned into a seriously bad proposition in an overly overloaded genre populated by a lot of mediocracy and an excellent few going for the stars.
In the end, Zepter present an equally serious array of good ideas. Nothing new, of course. They’re doing Heavy Metal after all, and that genre has been with us for a while. If they’re able to ruthlessly trim their production issues and inject a boatload of oomph at the same time, great alloy will greet us in the next album. If, however, Zepter continue to sound like an uneasy version of the krautrock band Jane5 gone NWOBHM, the stages and beerhalls they play will remain insignificant.
So, let’s see what that sophomore album will bring us. We’re already all ears.
Record Rating: 4/10 | Label: High Roller Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 20 February 2026
- Scepter in English. But you knew that already, didn’t you.-↩
- New Wave of British Heavy Metal.-↩
- The guitarist himself can still run circles around this band. Just sayin’.-↩
- For fuck’s sake, guys. -Ed.-↩
- A German rock band with a style so terrible, it was actually good. They made a mess out of it in the end, too, and finally ended up with two bands that are still active. Well, kind of. They’re not that young anymore.-↩