Attempting to follow in the footsteps of influences like Judas Priest,
Helloween, Memory Garden, Grand Magus and more, these UK heavy/thrash and
progressive (definitely progressive) metallers have offered up four songs and a
little over twenty minutes of new material within them. These guys used to play
in a band called Merciless Fail, but decided to kick things up a notch with
their new moniker and a much heavier band to boot. That being said, we actually
get a lot of little prog-jam sessions and even some Maidenisms that I certainly
won't turn away. There's definitely a doom feeling to the music here, reminding
me a lot of Candlemass with opener “1000 Wings” and the title cut, which almost
sounds like it was ripped right from a Candlemass record. Only difference is
that we have a little more attention to detail in the form of the prog, which
not only gives these tunes more melody, but also allows them to escape into
unforeseen and rather brilliant realms. “Renegades Of Last Rites” explores more
thrash, while closer “Shadows Still Remain” adds a bit more progressive
influence into what brings back the doom feel of the first two cuts. For some
odd reason there's an obnoxious harsh vocal roar utilized on the record that
just doesn't fit in with the rest of the material and rubs me the wrong way
every time it is used. Though I haven't heard the band's earlier debut, I
certainly can't find any other problems with this disc other than the
aforementioned and would heavily recommend it to fans of the bands I mentioned
above, as well as the doom influences like Candlemass (which I'm kind of
surprised wasn't mentioned on the band's press leaflet) and numerous others in
that vein. It's good stuff regardless, and I wouldn't pass it up. I'm quite
impressed otherwise.
(4 Tracks, 21:00)
8/10
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