StimulanS hails from Croatia and their debut record landed for reviewing on my table. After the first spin I was not really convinced and after a few more spins the music on the album didn't persuade me either. First of all I have to say that the album isn't bad, but the straight heavy metal with influences of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest sounds too average. Especially on the twin-solo parts the band sounds Maiden-like.
What it lacks is quality, the songs on the album are just not good enough, and the song writing is too poor to make the difference. The ideas are there and several songs have nice choruses, but there is not enough variation. The songs are for the greater parts played in mid-tempo and have the same construction. Fortunately there are enough positive points; vocalist Mario Culjak has a nice warm metal voice, some nice guitar solos are present and the rest of the band controls their instruments well. The production is not top notch, but good enough.
I wonder if the band would have been noticed if they hailed from a Scandinavian country or Germany, I doubt it. There are enough bands wandering around without a contract that are just as good, or even better. Nevertheless, StimulanS released their debut and they still have to learn a lot. Off course there is nothing that withholds you to give them a closer listen and perhaps you like what you hear. You can describe StimulanS as a softer version of Ravage or Steel Assassin.
