Cost: $1.00
Band name and album title initially attract me to this one. Layout reeks of modernity, so I look through the booklet. The thanks list is all over the place--one fellow has Korn, Fear Factory, and Queensryche in his, while another mentions Sabbath and Yngwie. But hey, it's a buck, so I decide to risk it.
Modern heavy metal here, midpaced-to-slow in tempo. While there a few classic metal elements under the surface, it's hardly traditional metal, and it's clear that they unfortunately took some influence from Pantera (well, later Pantera ;) ) and bands of that ilk musically--there are plenty of chugga-chugga riffs and the guitars have that modern chunky, churning feel. The first two songs seem to suffer from that the most. I did like the doomy Sabbath-inspired "The Pain Remains," which is in a similar vein to Candlemass' immediate post-Messiah material.
Three of the guys are ex-members of later Steel Attack lineups (Ronny Hemlin is probably the best known as he's the current Tad Morose singer). The vocals are the strongest point, with Ronny's delivery and tonality reminding me very much of a Swedish version of Ripper Owens--the majority of the vocals follow in the footsteps of classic metal singers, but like Ripper, there are a few spots of more angsty modern vocals, presumably to fit with the modern style of the music.
Three of the guys are ex-members of later Steel Attack lineups (Ronny Hemlin is probably the best known as he's the current Tad Morose singer). The vocals are the strongest point, with Ronny's delivery and tonality reminding me very much of a Swedish version of Ripper Owens--the majority of the vocals follow in the footsteps of classic metal singers, but like Ripper, there are a few spots of more angsty modern vocals, presumably to fit with the modern style of the music.
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