Mutiny Within is being groomed to be the next big thing where pop(ular) metal is concerned. Atleast the advertising muscle and video game tie-ins seem to point that way (ie: spot on the new God of War 3 game soundtrack, and internet ads everywhere you care to look). However, does this debut live up to the hype? Can a band of mostly unheard of musicians be the next saviors of metal? Only the new album can tell...
The band uses various pre-established sounds to configure their own output to something that is believed to be commercially viable. The standout influence is the almost famous bands Symphony X, with the emphasis on pure American bred power metal crossed with that brand of deft complexity and the progressive touch (meaning a healthy dose of keyboards). There is also the roar of thrashy speedsters such as Trivium, which pounce in to dominate
Mutiny Within's well groomed sound. The better tracks find a commanding chorus and wall the layers around it. The sticking point is always going to be the vocals however.
Chris Clancy's output is mostly very clean, sharp vocals that muscle their way through the music, sheer power over finesse. Then there's the "cookie monster" gutteral growls and beastial howls which often take over and run amuck through the album like a barbarian's blinding rage. Rhyme or reason, there seems to be none. There is no storyline to give a better reason for the inclusion of the beasty roaring, thus diminishing its presence to mere shock value. Perhaps they were trying to bridge the two worlds together for optimum results, yet it seems to do the opposite, and be a dividing point where listeners are going to either love or hate what Mutiny is bringing to the table in the voice department.
There are not a great deal of metallers that want these two styles crossing paths, and this artistic decision seems to have hurt the album more than help it. If this were 1997 perhaps they could have been given a pass, and it could be seen as something a bit out of the ordinary. But there are so many bands that employ this trick usually as a dark/light polar opposite balance, or for well scripted theatrics. Here it is just random and doesn't quite fit into their musical puzzle. Like the edges are not quite right, thus not achieving the complete picture.
They are definitely a melting pot and have been likened to so many bands: Killswitch Engage, Slayer, Trivium,
Savatage, Fates Warning, Symphony X, Testament, Shadows Fall,
Iced Earth, Opeth, Adagio, Dragonslayer, Still Remains... the list goes on. And those that claim its metalcore obviously hasn't heard anything beyond their little angsty outfits in the past two decades... also those that claim the clean vocals are "refreshingly new" need to get out of their cardboard box and Headbangers Ball reruns and take a look at the bigger metal picture now and then. But let's not digress...
"Awake" has a flexible chorus that is absolutely addicting, and utterly melodic. The choppy rhythms and thrashy moments seem like early
Iced Earth crossed with the luscious melodies and prog touches of Fates Warning. The vocals are extremely strong, something caught between Russel Allen and Bruce Dickinson, among other pure powerhouse singers. Answering its call is the monsterous utterances that's like dragging nails across a blackboard. It uses it for ear candy effect, and other aspects of the song are strong enough to overlook the nuisance. The same can be said for
"Images", a song that has some truly lovely melodic moments but is caught into an unoriginal thrash trap. The spell is broken here and there, but the bridge is breathtaking divine and a prime example of why the power metal genre found a foothold in the marketplace some ten plus years ago. It is a shame that flashes of near brilliance are rare such occurances. A guitar/keyboard duel seems ripped straight out of the pages of old
Stratovarius yet lacks the technical blinding dazzle and competitive fiery drive of the Johansson/Tolkki battles of yore.
"Falling Forever" is wound around this chunky rhythm riffing, some interesting supporting vocals and a steady, consistent flow, like the burn of a candle. The vocal/instrumental breakdown in the middle can be predicted from a mile away. The double drumming and steady harmonies keeps the song on its arrow sped track. A dash of
Savatage here perhaps?
"Year of Affliction" is more of the same, distinguishing itself very little from its sister songs. It is all concentrated on fret bubble guitars, unconvincing angst and the sort of growling mess out of
Children of Bodom spliced in with the cleaner delivery. A rather disjointed joining, and the throaty monsterous stuff popping up starts to grate on the nerves. It flounders about uselessly, lacking proper context. The full throttle Testament/Shadows Fall crossbred is all thrash and speed.
"Forsaken" finds the piano and uses it right off the bat. A tense, tight song that pours the vocals on heavily, that heart wrenched plea from the soul that pours on some cliched
but effective lyrics such as the image of
"my wings are burning". It is an internal war between heaven and hell, reaching the bottom of the well and trying to scramble up beyond suffering that inbetween of purgatory. There's quite alot going on here, and can be linked to bands such as the emotional layers of
Evergrey (when not seeking aliens) and the gut twist kick of
Angel Dust. The purity sting of the guitars and exceptionally held vocal acrobatics take
Mutiny Within up to the A-list.
Then
"Lethean" grounds them back into place. The melody here seems recycled and tweaked a bit from what we've already heard before. Stale and unsatisfying. They drum fiercely, diddle on their guitars in a fleet manner and just blunder through this with speed, power and not much else. A let down after the fine tuned
"Forsaken". The disc starts sliding downhill from here, as
"Oblivion" is more of the same.
"Undone" is pretty tortured as well, but straightens it out into a slippery piece that's all metal with none of the perplexing elements. Keyboards provide a melodic counterpoint to the guitars and skull pounding rhythm section. It's all very remniscent of other giant groups of the genre, but even as it seems a bit deja-vu, flashback to bands from before,well-done music is always appreciated, even if not wholly original or daring to take any chances, and this is undoubtedly finely executed.
Speaking of taking chances (or lack thereof),
"Hours" does the same thing
"Undone" does, but throws in a few loopholes and the gutteral vocals as well. They find a formula and just stick with it. Unfortunately these tracks are starting to run together after awhile. The guitars are nice, yet unexciting since you've already heard the same thing a few songs back.
Mutiny Within is repeating themselves, and the never ending cycle is the detriment to the album. The generic guitar-fest for
"Suffocate" drives the point further home, as they seem scared to kick up to full crush mode or drudge up a variation on their by-the-book melodic themes.
"Reflections" brings it to a close with more of the same. The incessant rhyming of
"reflections" and
"misconceptions" is just mind melting, and otherwise these songs just run together like paint on a page.
Mutiny Within's self titled debut is not as gold gilded as the hype has made it out to be. There is undoubtedly alot of talent here, but the vocalist never seems to stray from his clean roar and the ridiculous growling. No inbetween means that the songs lack the emotional twisting that more experienced singers pull off. He seems to really be working it, never giving a feel of effortless acrobatics, even when the choruses and melodies are supportive in his favor.
The guitars are razor sharp, deliciously clean and soaring with that neo-classical speed, but the soul is drained out of the string bending, and even firecracker theatrics can't keep you enthralled when the solos go nowhere, and are installed just for the sake of flashiness. Therein lies one of its problems. The disc is quite flashy, and finds itself now and again, but overall lacks substance. They use other bands as a crutch too often, and repetition of borrowed themes makes for a disc that blunders into boredom.
"Forsaken", "Undone", "Falling Forever" and
"Awake" are enough to whet the appetite for now, and the rest are give and take along the average marker.
At the heart of the matter:
Mutiny Within is not the savior of metal that was promised, but the disc is well above the average expectations for a debut, even despite its numerous issues.
Written by
Alanna Sunday, March 14, 2010
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