Coming off the heals of last years
Phorceful Ahead, their third album and debut for Metal Blade,
Symphorce's fourth offering is no less the weaker, offering the same brand of melodic power metal that stands out among many band within this saturated genre.
Like all of their other releases,
Symphorce offers a more straight ahead metal sound, that's more down to earth rocking without all of the overzealous symphonic and progressive elements that unfortunately might dilute a lesser band. With the sound being a mixture of Iced Earth,
Rage For Order/Warning-era Queensryche, and classic
Helloween and Fates Warning,
Symphorce keeps the emphasis on the song, giving plenty of memorable hooks to sing along to, without any cheesiness present.
Between the guitar solos, created with precision by Cede Dupont (known for his axework in Freedom Call) and Markus Pohl (six string attack for Valley's Eve), as well as the powerful rhythm section adding more than your standard double bass/consistent snare pounding, one of the biggest strengths, besides the playing itself, are the songs.
Ten opuses to complete an album that carries all the ingredients to make an over-the-top record complete with moodiness and dark atmospheric punch balancing out with the technicality brought forth, brought with the lyricism from the gasoline pipes of vocalist Andy Franck.
Twice Second is heavy throughout, with more driving cuts such as
"Fallen," the technical thrash driven
"Searching," "Face the Pain" with it's sound at times sounding like a cross between early
Metallica copulated with some of Dream Theaters early material, the groove driven
"Cause of Laughter," and the moody but yet occasionally driven,
"Two seconds to Live."
Darker moments on the record include
"Tears," adding the atmospheric vibe surprisingly early in the record and late period Sabbath meets
Helloween inspired
"In the Cold."
Twice Second ends on a more eased back not with the dark
"Cry on My Shoulder," having that "Della Brown" (Queensryche) feel to it, but yet has more emotion.
To sum it all up, it's a great fucking record, it hits you immediately, luckily the keyboards are used sparingly to add the ambience and atmosphere needed, while keeping the record's focus on the guitar work, all harnessed by engineer Achim Kohler, known for his work with
Primal Fear and
Brainstorm (Franck's band).
Being familiar with these guys, anyone would know what to expect, and all expectations are met with this release, proving that 2004 is looking like another good year for metal, seemingly starting early, and the earlier the better.
Written by
Hashman Monday, February 9, 2004
Show all reviews by HashmanRatingsHashman: 8.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
This article has been shown 3317 times. Go to the
complete list.
