Bursting right through the gates and coughing up fuel for the fire ‘ready set upon their surroundings Linz, Austria-based heavy metal quartet ZEPTER have wasted no time gripping skulls and catching ears with their songwriting on this admirably direct, big-swinging n’ hard hitting debut EP. Touting a warmed-up fully analog recording and new-yet-ancient traditional early 80’s heavy metal ethos at the core of its sound ‘Inferno‘ is yet a spectacle of song and not merely design ethos, taking the willful energy of old-new wave and giving it their best four shots herein. If you’re looking for a bit more substance and a lot more leads in classics-minded gear this one should leave a dent in even the most calloused-up skull.

Formed in 2024 and having already minted these four songs by the end of April Zepter appear raring to go with their own take on traditional early 80’s heavy metal here and because of this level of energy fuming off their gig I’d generally point to early 80’s Budgie and Thin Lizzy as the heavy rock full step into heavy metal taken but these folks go for more speed, a more lively push than that reaching the rush of late NWOBHM/early thrash metal in their step. This transitional but era-representative sound seems to come naturally considering lead vocalist/guitarist Lukas Götzenberger has a fair deal of experience with heavy psychedelic rock and garage psych in his resume via The Heavy Minds and such. Still this is an album of riffs, of trills and palm muted chunks which back-up leads that’ve a mind for both auld British heavy metal and its spheres of influence early on… as well as the modern heavier takes on said style. The materials here name everything from cult hit Virtue (U.K.) to far more recent darlings Century (Sweden) in approximating their launching point and this is worth considering too but my appreciation for this EP comes down to strong guitar work, tuneful songs, and plenty of exuberant energy cranking from each.

In terms of theme and lyrics here we’ve got proper hard rock built songs which are groove driven as much as they are built on the thrill of their leads (“Inferno“), real anthemic stompers which soar through their movement with purpose and I guess I wasn’t expecting the subject to veer from heavy metal here as the lyrics for at least two of these songs are pulled from Italian giallo/horror films with “Inferno” taking influence from Dario Argento’s 1980 film by the same name and “Crushed by the Sword” taking from Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 (1979) and The Beyond (1980). The artists have taken inspiration from cult horror before (see: ‘A Presence Beyond‘) but here it is an interesting layer of menace added to something which didn’t really have to mean anything to be a cool-ass heavy metal song.

In fact the title track (“Inferno”) is a cool-ass heavy metal song, a big swinger that shreds up front and hits us with a Quartz-esque comedown in the middle before they kick back up in the end with plenty of haunting vocal layers ringing from above. Giving the tape its sprinting start with plenty of rad detail in every lick this song cues is in to their willingness to thrash here and there (~4:36 minutes in) in the sorta pre-’84 kinda Tokyo Blade sense as they keep the energy roaring for a full six minutes. It is the best possible first introduction to this type of band and one that feels like it comes from more than cursory study of the old ways, rooted in the functions of heavy rock but fully understanding the paradigm shift of the early 80’s. In this sense I’d felt like this tape had more to it than the usual New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal gusto.

From there we get the anthem, the stomper, the hall filler “Crushed by the Sword” which is probably the most squarely late NWOBHM era buster of the bunch as the other half of the tape veers into what I’d consider speed metal territory more often. The scratch of the rhythm guitar tone, the interminable echoic luminance of the vocals, and the vague shadowy presence of the bass in the background all add to the ancient feeling this recording is approximating and in this sense it can’t help but sound warmed by its own proper mixing. The song itself is once again fully engaged, energetic with the drummer giving this song its major force be it mid-pace kicks through or the rolling push of the chorus’ edge, we’re right there jogging along the with band as the dual lead guitar solo ties off the final push for the chorus at the end; As suggested the remaining two songs touch upon some speed metallic touches with “Precise Radars” bringing some chunkier rhythms that’re maybe a bit more post-‘Morbid Tales‘ if we don’t consider the Lizzy-stoked lead-outs. Either way a proper mid-album track and one that leads us into the grand finale of “Inquisitor” feeling like we’ve explored a bit of depth.

“Inquisitor” lets us know opener “Inferno” wasn’t a fluke, that this whole idea has some consistency in its treatment of leads and bustling rhythms, in fact it feels like they’re ready to bust out their skin and almost have to hold back on the speed of their rhythms as this song finds its stride. Again this song is built on a bigger groove, something a bit more 70’s Priest-like from my point of view, though the vocals are still leaning into their harmonized points rather than strutting up front with a lead presence most of the time. For my own taste the haunting presence of Zepter is part of the mystique of their approach and it leaves some room to expand into more direct lead vocals or potentially approach with more nuanced vocal harmonies in mind in the future.

At just ~19 minutes and four songs ‘Inferno‘ is substantive as an introduction and proper in its presentation that it feels like an auld demo tape without sounding like one, rather a 12″ single level of work which is fine in its representation of their work, their aim, and taste level. Of course artwork by Hans Huemer of Venator goes a long way toward getting the vibe right next to the protractor precise logo and custom title text, the 80’s heavy metal xerox vibe is there and the drawing is dynamic enough to match the energy of this tape. Otherwise I’d immediately connected with Zepter’s approach to NWOBHM era heavy metal thanks to ear-burning leads, songs that’d stuck in mind for days, and a class presentation helped to pull it all together. You couldn’t ask for more in an introduction and from my point of view the conviction they’ve put into this thing is unmissable. A high recommendation.

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