The Lost Years Collection, Vol. 1 is an album that recently has been recovered from a 25 years old cassette tape and it offers a thundering slab of tightly played heavy metal, recorded live at an undisclosed location. The performance is loud and raucous, the riffs are huge, the sound thick as a brick.

The songs are cleverly composed, with plenty of hooks that harken back to the glory days of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and even Kiss. Indeed, Little Lover’s refrain sounds like Gene Simmons’ band injected with a dose of steroids.

However, Steele Raven are not one-dimensional followers of a blueprint solidified in concrete decades ago by the British innovators. Only You is a power ballad that rocks with the best of them, though not quite as hard as Pantera do on This Love.

At 13 songs length, there’s plenty of material to digest, and although the sound quality isn’t pristine, it more than makes up with the attitude and conviction. Overall, this is incredibly solid heavy metal, played with zero delicacy or pretentiousness. Definitely one for the old-school fans!

Horns up: Masterful heavy metal played with authority and skill

Horns down: The overall style is a bit by-the-numbers, but hey, it’s heavy metal!