AREA 54 - Beckoning Of The End
2003 - Casket Records
By Mark Bridgeman
/bandpics/area54_beckoning.jpg
Making the leap from a debut to that dreaded second album, and (if the debut was actually worth listening to) being able match the first's quality, is often a problem with bands. They had their entire lives to prepare for album 1, and usually only a year or so to get album 2 in the bag. And when the band is a personal favourite, its triumphs seem like mountains while its weaknesses shine out like irreparable errors.
For Britain's AREA 54, they've had slightly longer to prepare for this outing - after No Visible Scars, a fine if imperfect debut, they struggled through being dropped by a label, and working hard to make a name for themselves in the UK scene by gigging throughout the country, both as support to such acts as Saxon and Blaze, and with their own shows. With their second album, now on a new label, one would think they would attempt it play it relatively safe, turning out the same Maiden/Metallica rock-metal hybrid that their debut offered in an attempt to maintain whatever tenuous hold they may have on the gig-going public's attention.
Which is why Beckoning Of The End is both a welcome, and surpising, album - they are still rocking out to the best of their enviable abilities, but they've shown that they're willing to test the waters by incorporating more than just the metallic styles they've become known for.
Opener 'Living A Lie' is typical of the material on their first album, and it pales against the rest of the new material purely for this reason - in the 3 or so years between discs, the band (guitar/voxman Lakis Kyriacou, guitarist Steve Martin, bassist Laura Salmon and drummer Rob Hillman) has pulled together 10 songs of varying styles while still maintaining the '54' sound of edgy guitars and an intricate, solid rhythm section that pushes forward with e'er-growing momentum. In some parts bringing in the spirit of Megadeth-esque riffing, in others the melodicly sharp phrasing of Californian pop-punk, and others classic 80s heavy rock. 'To Conform Is To Suffer' could be a snappier 'Deth song, while closer 'This Is The End Of Everything' is a brave 14-minute part-acoustic, part full-on rocker.
And then there's the brainfuck of 'Cancer Of The Mind', featuring ex-At The Gates man Tomas Lindberg, where 54 manage to pull off the Gothenburg sound, with spiralling, wicked guitar melodies, and Lindberg screaming in a fine performance over the top. Whether the song was written for the man is irrelevant - he manages to make it his own, and 54 back him up perfectly.
The only downside to the album is the band's tendency to fall back on their 80s influences, notably Iron Maiden in certain guitar-duelling passages. However derivative these parts may seem (and, unfortunately, they are a weakness to be overcome), they soon pale when compared to much more original pieces such as the tender 'Another Life', the rawk energy of 'Beyond A Pale Existence', and the aforementioned 'Cancer Of The Mind'. The album shows more imagination compositionally than some of their peers are managing to produce, which should be commended.
Beckoning Of The End shows it's time for Area 54 to step out of the shadow of better-known, but lesser, bands and show the UK (if not abroad) what they're capable of, what they can achieve - and that they deserve it.
2003 - Casket Records
By Mark Bridgeman
/bandpics/area54_beckoning.jpg
Making the leap from a debut to that dreaded second album, and (if the debut was actually worth listening to) being able match the first's quality, is often a problem with bands. They had their entire lives to prepare for album 1, and usually only a year or so to get album 2 in the bag. And when the band is a personal favourite, its triumphs seem like mountains while its weaknesses shine out like irreparable errors.
For Britain's AREA 54, they've had slightly longer to prepare for this outing - after No Visible Scars, a fine if imperfect debut, they struggled through being dropped by a label, and working hard to make a name for themselves in the UK scene by gigging throughout the country, both as support to such acts as Saxon and Blaze, and with their own shows. With their second album, now on a new label, one would think they would attempt it play it relatively safe, turning out the same Maiden/Metallica rock-metal hybrid that their debut offered in an attempt to maintain whatever tenuous hold they may have on the gig-going public's attention.
Which is why Beckoning Of The End is both a welcome, and surpising, album - they are still rocking out to the best of their enviable abilities, but they've shown that they're willing to test the waters by incorporating more than just the metallic styles they've become known for.
Opener 'Living A Lie' is typical of the material on their first album, and it pales against the rest of the new material purely for this reason - in the 3 or so years between discs, the band (guitar/voxman Lakis Kyriacou, guitarist Steve Martin, bassist Laura Salmon and drummer Rob Hillman) has pulled together 10 songs of varying styles while still maintaining the '54' sound of edgy guitars and an intricate, solid rhythm section that pushes forward with e'er-growing momentum. In some parts bringing in the spirit of Megadeth-esque riffing, in others the melodicly sharp phrasing of Californian pop-punk, and others classic 80s heavy rock. 'To Conform Is To Suffer' could be a snappier 'Deth song, while closer 'This Is The End Of Everything' is a brave 14-minute part-acoustic, part full-on rocker.
And then there's the brainfuck of 'Cancer Of The Mind', featuring ex-At The Gates man Tomas Lindberg, where 54 manage to pull off the Gothenburg sound, with spiralling, wicked guitar melodies, and Lindberg screaming in a fine performance over the top. Whether the song was written for the man is irrelevant - he manages to make it his own, and 54 back him up perfectly.
The only downside to the album is the band's tendency to fall back on their 80s influences, notably Iron Maiden in certain guitar-duelling passages. However derivative these parts may seem (and, unfortunately, they are a weakness to be overcome), they soon pale when compared to much more original pieces such as the tender 'Another Life', the rawk energy of 'Beyond A Pale Existence', and the aforementioned 'Cancer Of The Mind'. The album shows more imagination compositionally than some of their peers are managing to produce, which should be commended.
Beckoning Of The End shows it's time for Area 54 to step out of the shadow of better-known, but lesser, bands and show the UK (if not abroad) what they're capable of, what they can achieve - and that they deserve it.
