Mixed emotions can come in many forms, but they definitely show form with me when listening to this record. For years, axeman Jack
Frost and Co. have been firing away their melodic brand of metal with crafty chops balanced with the songwriting to portray the band best known as Seven Witches. With
Amped, the whole ideology of their melodies have taken a more straight ahead traditional metal sound, say
Led Zeppelin meets
Armored Saint meets Baltimoore. Obviously, their melodic approach goes into more of a straightforward rock and roll/twelve bar blues/trad-metal style fashion rather than playing to the Euro-power metal connotation.
But it seems as though 50 % of
Amped worked and the other 50%, well lets just say, it might be questionable. The music is much more grinding on this one, with a no bullshit attitude attached, so we have that set in stone. But the vocals are too dry (no reverb/delay) and "scratch/demo" sounding, not that Alan Tecchio is a bad vocalist, it is like he is trying to sing a range that his vocal style is not supposed to. Plus those harmonies, they could use a little work, sounding diminished and flat at times; like everybody is singing against eachother. However, the musical ideology is in place, so go figure.
Of course the record charters riffage, with the guitars and pounding rhythms taking center stage in the beloved 4/4 signature, rather than any technical connotations that would cause
Amped to run amuck. You have cuts like "
Sunnydale High" and "
GP Fix" which are upbeat stoner-esque/Sabbathy tracks, "
Red" showing a more dark progressive side to the band (hinting some late-period
Dream Theater elements), and even balladry with "
Be," however, a little more power could have been added to the latter. There is even a cover of Billy Idol's "
Flesh for Fantasy," played with the anthem principles, luckily lacking the laughable factor. Nevertheless, they do show their high knack for songwriting ability, no doubt about that.
I guess I had high expectations for this record, especially after warming up to 2003's
Passage to the Other Side, for which I even felt that there was room for some improvement on that one (due to the fact that that record had to grow on me). At least with the current lineup, the next one has the potential to kick ass with a little polishing, but then again, metal isn't really a polished music in the first place and playing music that is raw only enhances the heaviness, right??
Written by
Hashman Friday, January 13, 2006
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