Rival bring a cool version of Power Metal to the table. A bit heavier than say
Stratovarius but still firmly in the Power Metal vein.
Lots of guitar pyrotechnics and steady double bass drumming with a heavier vocal that has hints of Geoff Tate's heavier moments and similar to
Jorn Lande of
Masterplan too.
One thing we find missing though is the keyboards so often associated with the PM style. It's a good thing! They don't need the boards to fill out the sound. It's full and brutal without them. Yeah I said brutal! I mean for Powermetal this is pretty heavy stuff!
Yeah it's heavier...if any of you guys remember early Helloween...and I'm talking "Walls Of Jericho" early...then you can get the idea of the heavier side of PM that
Rival play. Melodic for sure and the production is modern so in that way it's different than "...Jericho" but the spirit of a speedier raw heavy metal is intact here.
Gamma Ray without the keyboards would be a good comparison for you too. Ok so you get the style of what their playing but i need to emphasize they don't sound like any of those bands when it comes to the songs they write. They have their own deal happening but they do fit in the genre and so that's why the comparisons to the aforementioned bands.
The first three tracks keep an upbeat powermetal speed and then
"Insane" breaks it up with a mid paced chugger and then back into the upbeat speed on
"Tyrants", which continues for the rest of the disc ending on the blistering fast final track
"Hell Train".
This album only misses the boat on tracks 7 and 8. Track 7
"Remember You" being an uninspired does of ye ole filler while track 8
"Lord Of The Knights" is better but retains the cheesiness of it's title and must be labeled as filler as well.
These guys are real tight and great musicians. A handsome debut for Metalblade that promises great things in the future for the band.
Give it a listen at
www.Metalblade.com or the band's
web site.
Oh and by the way these be homegrown United States, via Chicago, boys. To hear them you'd be thinking European Power metal for sure but surprise surprise they are Americans. No wonder the Europeans love 'em so much!
Written by
David Sunday, June 6, 2004
Show all reviews by DavidRatingsDavid: 6.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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