PRESS
Heretic Nation Album Reviews
Virtuosity One
"Pretty much 2 years to the day UK traditional metallers Vendetta return with their second opus “Heretic Nation”. Their debut “Tyranny Of Minority” scored a healthy 85% in these hallowed pages and it seems the band have grown nicely yet managed to refine their own sound even further......" read full review
The Mayfair Mallzine
"Heretic Nation is the second album from Vendetta the band formed around the guitar wizardry of Ed Box who along with Pete Thompson, Gary Foalle and Lee Lamb are hoping to put old school rock and metal back on the map with their own stamp on proceedings. Heretic Nation' is old school brought crashing into the now, for those who thought their debut album Tyranny Of Minority' was a scorcher then this new opus will just blow you away......" read full review
SMN News
"UK-based VENDETTA’s style is deeply rooted in ’80s traditional metal, with crunchy riffs and melodic hooks. Traces of Maiden, Priest, Scorpions, Triumph and Saxon, among others, are eloquently placed throughout their 2nd album Heretic Nation. The band mix melody with aggression, combined with great harmonies and a shitload of searing, soaring guitar leads......" read full review
YTSE Jam
"Following up the release of Tyranny of Minority, Vendetta are still riding on the strengths of a no bullshit approach to metal. Sure with the nimble fingered six string talents of frontman Ed Box and Pete Thompson as well as the virtuosic rhythmic punch of bassist Gary Foalle and drummer Lee Lamb could have made this a collection prog-metal or shred metal concertos....." read full review
Danger Dog
"Guitarist Edward Box's Vendetta project, and the debut Tyranny of the Minority, was one the great metal surprises of 2007. Vendetta returns with a strong second effort in Heretic Nation. This album continues the course Box and company set from the start: crafting guitar driven melodic heavy metal which overflows with energy and enthusiasm....." read full review
Digital Steel
"Again Edward Box and mates have wrote some nice decent hard rock songs in the vein of ‘Saxon’, ‘Judas Priest’, ‘Iron Maiden’. Traditional Metal it is. Again, like on the first album, the guitar riffs are in your head after one or two times listening, count with that the steady rhythm tandem and the pleasant voice of Edward himself and you will jump for joy if you like this kind of metal. ....." read full review
Jukebox Metal
"A second offering from the traditional metal band of guitar virtuoso Edward Box sees permanent drummer Lee Lamb join and they have managed to transfer the tightness and focus of their live shows supporting the first album to the recordings for the second. The resulting Heretic Nation is a far better effort than 2007’s debut Tyranny of Minority. Box has greatly improved his vocals and has made the songs, on the whole, much heavier with a greater focus on riffs ....." read full review
Komodo Rock
"In advance of their first release 'Tyranny Of Minority' British metal band Vendetta stated they were looking to bring about a return to traditional metal, and it would appear that with their sophomore effort they have gone quite some way down that road.
Solid riffs built on top of tightly gripped bass and drums give a bedrock for guitarists Ed Box and Pete Thompson to do their thing, and when they let the strings do the talking there are some very fine moments that will delight fans of early Maiden and Priest while at the same time tipping their hat in the direction of the Schenker/Jabs sound of the Scorpions......" read full reviewKK Downing Offical Website
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From the speakers a grand old-school heavy metal riff blasts forth, twists around the heavily driving rhythm and gets joined by a powerful delivery of strong lyrics. Classic style drum fills shift the gears and as the riff comes back at just the right times, the song eventually breaks into a thrash-like guitar chops and then into a blazing solo... The description could well be applied to many a heavy metal classic and so - as the song in question here is the opening track 'Delusion' from Vendetta's new album 'Heretic Nation' - the result has all the vital elements to appeal to the fans of traditional heavy metal.
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Tyranny of Minority Album Reviews
Jam Mag
"I'll be honest. I came across this album purely by accident, when my secret metal music source told me that Tyranny of Minority was a Progressive Death Metal album. Without bothering to Google a review, I went straight out and got my hands on it......" read full review
Heavy Metal Resource
"What makes this album stand out to me is the sheer consistency of it. It's very good from beginning to end and never really takes a dip anywhere in between. The album opens up in strong fashion with the track 'Generation Kill' that in sound had me thinking 'Electric Crown' from Testament in the guitar sounds. For those that have been missing that type of sound in music, oh man you are gonna love this record....." read full review
Sound on Sound
"while the has-beens of metal are busy taking computer geeks to court or (tragically) getting shot on stage, the genre seems to have taken a turn for the worse. The guitar solos have gone, the production is over-polished, and the music videos are looking more and more like they belong on MTV Base. Enter Vendetta, whose goal, it seems, is to pick up where their childhood heroes left off, and deliver “an album of classic metal anthems.” And that is exactly what they’ve done....." read full review
Ytse Jam
"It's no irony how Tyranny of Minority opens up with the "Hellion"-esque homage titled Archangel, for this debut by the axe oriented Vendetta screams with the six string battle cry....." read full review
Rock Report
"Edward Box is not only a gifted guitar player, he's also a wise man who knows when it's time to move on......" read full review
The Metal Observer
"Formed only in 2006 UK hard Rockers VENDETTA'S debut packs a punch like seasoned campaigners......" read full review
Lords of Metal
"Some of you might know guitarist/singer Edward Box from his solo albums 'Plectrumhead' and 'Moonfudge'. Now he has a new band with Vendetta with the intention to create traditional metal and I must say he has succeeded in doing so......" read full review
Metal Storm
"Vendetta are an English heavy metal band, hailing from the very north of the country these guys play heavy metal how it should be played, the good old traditional way........." read full review
Virtuosity One
"Hailing from the industrial wastelands of the north east of England, Vendetta is a new band formed against a classic metal background. The band feature a twin guitar line up in Edward Box and Pete Thompson ....." read full review
Danger Dog
"Edward Box is hardly a household name in the metal genre. He's probably best known in his native country, England. He has relesed two solo albums, 'Plectrumhead' (2002) and 'Moonfudge' (2006)....." read full review
Gothic Rock
"Edward Box has one big obsession, sharing his love of traditional Metal with the rest of the world. Together with Pete Thompson – Guitar, Gary Foalle – Bass, Lee Lamb - Drums he founded Vendetta in 2006 in The United Kingdom. His big dream was to create a classical Metal album, and he succeeded very well!But don’t confuse this band with the Trash Metal band Vendetta from Germany. They have nothing else in common, but the name......" read full review
Metal Invader
"Besides DRAGONFORCE and BIOMECHANICAL the pure power mtal bands are endangered species at the UK. This is the reason why I was so surprised by the release of VENDETTA album. The “Tyranny Of Minority” is a 12 tracks album, full of traditional guitar oriented metal, or as we call it in our days power metal, or true metal. The influences are various, IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, DIAMOND HEAD, early DEF LEPPARD, TYGERS OF PAN, Bay Area bands, like FORBIDDEN, HEATHEN, also bands like RIOT, and NWOBHM......" read full review
Living For Metal
"Vendetta is guitarist Edward Box’s chance to bring a little more roughness to his music, and to include vocals. With his previous solo effort Moonfudge Box went in a very melodic direction. Not so with Vendetta. The music here is in a more traditional vein, taking cues from early Testament, a little Priest, maybe even some Deep Purple or Dokken. Fans of 80’s metal, and I don’t mean Poison, should definitely take notice......" read full review
Alteranative-Zine
"Vendetta's Tyranny Of Minority is a prefect example of a band that sounds as if it existed since the 80's, and this is it's 10th album. It's actually this British band's debut, but among the band's members are serious veteran metal musicians, their vocalist/guitarist – Edward Box was in XLR&R in the early 90's, as was bassist Gary Foalle, while the rest of that band went on to Mantas......" read full review
The Mayfair Mall Zine
"Hailing from Gods Country (the North East of England) Vendetta have been described as a traditional metal band, but the band are a lot more than that and this is obvious from the bands debut release 'Tyranny of Minority'....." read full review
Live Reviews
Riffs Magazine
"I had to fight tooth and nail to get this away from metal head Nige - and I will tell you the reason why from the off - the quality of these lads own work is stunning and I wanted to shout about it!....." read full review