yup... got some more!
the 'Rebellion' drama continues!
Review by: Derric Miller
www.HARDROCKHAVEN.com
Comments: Picture, if you will, a bluish-green atmosphere, smothered in a weaving fog, hiding remnants of a city in ruins. In the sky, a splintered asteroid floats, a testament to the shattered remains of this world. In the forefront, a small girl holds her doll and the hand of a wicked hot brunette, who, instead of a doll, is holding a gun. This is the image Katagory V greets us with via their new release, A New Breed of Rebellion. It's always a good thing when this much thought goes into a cover; you know that the music will mirror this effort as well.
Katagory V sounds, at times, like Fates Warning. (At least they don't sound like Men Without Hats.) Take the second track, "Turn to Grey." The song bludgeons you at the outset, thumping bass and drums accompanied with an intricate guitar part, and then singer Lynn Allers joins in, sounding impressively like Ray Alder. "My mind is on overload, all my emotions turn to grey ... turn to grey!" Powerful chorus, and this is
Allers strongest moment on the entire disk.
The title track, "A New Breed of Rebellion," begins with a ghostly guitar piece, just Allers and the guitar telling the tale. Allers sings lower on this song, and you think it's going to continue as this slow, acoustic track ... right up until about three minutes into the song. Then the drums and bass kick in, electric guitar, and you get another progressive metal construction. The song gets a little repetitive after 7 minutes, but it shows that Katagory V can change speeds and tempo and make it work.
"A Peaceful Act of Terrorism" is interesting, just by the title alone. Bassist Dustin Mitchell drives this song along, with expert and almost funky bass playing, entrenched in a purely metal sound. With lyrics like, "No regard for life, your views a religion, your eyes closed to the facts ... and you'd kill for your passion," these guys offer a pretty poignant portrait of terrorists today. The guitar solo here, either by Trevor Asire or Curtis Morell, is one of the strongest on the disk.
Another 7-minute song, "Your Dreams," will make you think of Fates Warning again. The vocals don't start until about a two-minute musical passage. On this song, Allers explores his higher range during the chorus with the line, "reaching out my hand," and even though it is layered with other vocals, it doesn't really work. Still, that's nitpicking; the double bass and overall awesome drumming at the second part of the song, called "Soul Traveler," again shows Katagory V nailing it. Plus, Allers lets lose a scream later that shows he can wail with the best of them.
The wrap things up with "One Last Time," a sad, slow song that conveys a real sense of longing. "I'm on the outside looking in, the wind grows cold as I begin to cry ..." Good, depressing stuff.
No, A New Breed of Rebellion isn't something you've never heard before. But if you haven't heard them, then it's something good you haven't heard before. With intelligent lyrics, good musicianship and a futuristic album theme, these guys are definitely worth your time and your money.
Rating: 6.5/10
Review by: Sickman
www.blooddawn.de Germany
(translated by Uli Bauer)
Quite daring of KATAGORY V to enter the race with such a sound. When I say "sound", I'm not actually talking about the songs, but the production itself, which, in my opinion, could be much better. The music creeps along tinny and makes me shrink back immediately. Music-wise, KATAGORY V try their hand at a mixture of early PSYCHOTIC WALTZ and modern progressive / power metal. The performance is solid, and the necessary portion of complex melodies gives the compositions a certain charm. But the poor sound evokes the impression that you are listening to a work from the early or mid-eighties. If the band claimed that this was done on purpose, I would like to ask them whether anybody still needs such an artificially created old-school sound today. Back then there were so many excellent albums with a lousy sound that no-one needs a remake of the old times. Even the vocalist often reminds me of BUDDY LACKEY. So after listening to the album several times, I'm quite sure that KATAGORY V really intend to sound like PSYCHOTIC WALTZ. The resemblance is just too striking.
That's nearly all I can say. PSYCHOTIC WALTZ-fans will definitely like "A New Breed Of Rebellion". But I still prefer the original. And, sorry, I just can't put up with that baking tray sound.
Normally, 4 points would be justified for such an interesting album with a rather good songwriting. I'll subtract 1 point for the sound, and maybe another for the fact that it is merely a solid album without any apparent highlights. Well. The latter point is just a question of taste, so I'll stick to a fat 3
If KATAGORY V are able to improve their performance, I'm quite sure they will go for the 5 points in the future.
Rating: 3/5
Review by: Wooks
www.prettiesforyou.com
This is the 2nd release from Utah based Power/Prog combo Katagory 5 and it's not a bad effort on their behalf. At first I could sense of bit of early Queensryche from the Rage For Order period or even Crimson Glory in their style of music. Vocalist Lynn Allers ain't no Geoff Tate or even Midnight but he makes a good stab at presenting a half decent vocal performance. The guitar work from Trevor Asire and Curtis Morrell, (who also produced the album), is pretty good. Drum and bass parts are OK, nothing to scream about. But where this album let's itself down is the overall production it's dull and lifeless and if I didn't know any better I would have said it had been recorded in one of the guys living rooms or basements using cheap and nasty equipment that they loaned from a friend, who told them that it was state of the art, yeah probably in the 60's!! I think that if this band are to succeed and grow in the future, they either have to look at doing their next album with a different record company or asking their present one to stump up a bit more cash to get the production right on their next album, instead of ploughing money into a good album cover and packaging. For me the cover is a tool to sell the music, if the production of music is crap, it doesn't matter how you dress it up it will always be crap.
Overall this is a slightly above average release let down by a small production budget.
Points: 5.6 out of 10
Review by: Tom Klaner
www.bright-eyes.de Germany
(translated by Uli Bauer)
With their second album, KATAGORY V from Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) put us to the ultimate test once more. This CD has already been available in the States since the beginning of this year, but it took until now to arrive on my desk. It is a shame that such an album remains quite unappreciated. After the usual line-up changes, the Americans are now getting things moving on all fronts with their new masterpiece "A New Breed of Rebellion". All friends of the the complete FATES WARNING collection and early QUEENSRYCHE-works should start looking for an internet-shop having this US-imported CD in stock. If you are hungry for highest-quality progressive power metal, you can sink your teeth into this tasty tidbit without remorse. Even though the sound may not blow out of your speakers like a "category V" hurricane, there are some excellent songs on "A New Breed of Rebellion". There are only few lucky bands that have a singer of Lynn Allers' abilities, who often sounds like former FATES WARNING vocalist John Arch (just listen to "No Response", incredible!). But the first proof for KATAGORY V's skills in playing an composing is already the opening track "Sands of Time", which is a truly outstanding song. The last song "One Last Time" sounds much different, quite calm, something like a thoughtful ballad with emotional depth, which makes the band even sound a bit like CRIMSON GLORY. Some more highlights are e.g. "Turn To Grey" and "Your Dreams", which are absolutely far above average. If you dig the underground scene of American progressive power metal, like I personally do, you will definitely get your money's worth. Even though the sound may be a bit thin and may remind of a demo, please give it a try. After all, these five musicians deliver a performance which is much better than a whole lot of albums from Europe. With KATAGORY V something very special is growing
Review by: ???
www.tombstone.gr Greece
If I am not mistaken this is the sophomore album of this American classic American power metal band. First of all the guys need a new singer since their current singer is a tragedy. Simply put the man can't sing. He can't deliver and it doesn't matter if the material is heavier or more melodic or whatever. Secondly they are in need of better songs and much better arrangements and third but not last they certainly need to improve the production of their next album. The musicianship is not bad, but it's nothing special either. I think that they really need to reevaluate their priorities and their direction and they definitely need to find a way to improve, either by practice, either by changing their
line up. It looks like it's an album where the band got everything wrong and the few interesting moments are just too few to count.
Review By: Spyros murray Telias
www.metaleagle.com Greece
This is another band coming from America, after DIVISION. Metal Ages Records released this album 10 months before. I don't know why this CD (along with DIVISION's one) was given to us for a review now, but this is something we should not stick on to, as we have to deal with a very good band from Utah, and we'd better focus on it. "A New Breed Of Rebellion" is their second album featuring a change in the line up, as ex-guitarist Ryan Taylor left the band and was replaced by Trevor Asire. With this line up the band started writing new material, which was finally released last January. The sound is a mix of progressive with power metal, flourished with many melodic moments and melancholic parts (take for example the title track). Tranquillity is suddenly "crushed" by heavy faster parts. Nice and complex structure of the songs, but they manage to keep your ears stuck on their music till the last note. All players are great performers and especially the singer brought in mind Ray Alder (FATES WARNING), Geoff Tate (QUEENSRYCHE) and King Diamond. The only "dark point" is the production, which sounded very minimal to my ears. This kind of music needs better production, and that is an obstacle for the band, but it shouldn't scare or prevent you from testing KATAGORY V.
7,5/10
the 'Rebellion' drama continues!
Review by: Derric Miller
www.HARDROCKHAVEN.com
Comments: Picture, if you will, a bluish-green atmosphere, smothered in a weaving fog, hiding remnants of a city in ruins. In the sky, a splintered asteroid floats, a testament to the shattered remains of this world. In the forefront, a small girl holds her doll and the hand of a wicked hot brunette, who, instead of a doll, is holding a gun. This is the image Katagory V greets us with via their new release, A New Breed of Rebellion. It's always a good thing when this much thought goes into a cover; you know that the music will mirror this effort as well.
Katagory V sounds, at times, like Fates Warning. (At least they don't sound like Men Without Hats.) Take the second track, "Turn to Grey." The song bludgeons you at the outset, thumping bass and drums accompanied with an intricate guitar part, and then singer Lynn Allers joins in, sounding impressively like Ray Alder. "My mind is on overload, all my emotions turn to grey ... turn to grey!" Powerful chorus, and this is
Allers strongest moment on the entire disk.
The title track, "A New Breed of Rebellion," begins with a ghostly guitar piece, just Allers and the guitar telling the tale. Allers sings lower on this song, and you think it's going to continue as this slow, acoustic track ... right up until about three minutes into the song. Then the drums and bass kick in, electric guitar, and you get another progressive metal construction. The song gets a little repetitive after 7 minutes, but it shows that Katagory V can change speeds and tempo and make it work.
"A Peaceful Act of Terrorism" is interesting, just by the title alone. Bassist Dustin Mitchell drives this song along, with expert and almost funky bass playing, entrenched in a purely metal sound. With lyrics like, "No regard for life, your views a religion, your eyes closed to the facts ... and you'd kill for your passion," these guys offer a pretty poignant portrait of terrorists today. The guitar solo here, either by Trevor Asire or Curtis Morell, is one of the strongest on the disk.
Another 7-minute song, "Your Dreams," will make you think of Fates Warning again. The vocals don't start until about a two-minute musical passage. On this song, Allers explores his higher range during the chorus with the line, "reaching out my hand," and even though it is layered with other vocals, it doesn't really work. Still, that's nitpicking; the double bass and overall awesome drumming at the second part of the song, called "Soul Traveler," again shows Katagory V nailing it. Plus, Allers lets lose a scream later that shows he can wail with the best of them.
The wrap things up with "One Last Time," a sad, slow song that conveys a real sense of longing. "I'm on the outside looking in, the wind grows cold as I begin to cry ..." Good, depressing stuff.
No, A New Breed of Rebellion isn't something you've never heard before. But if you haven't heard them, then it's something good you haven't heard before. With intelligent lyrics, good musicianship and a futuristic album theme, these guys are definitely worth your time and your money.
Rating: 6.5/10
Review by: Sickman
www.blooddawn.de Germany
(translated by Uli Bauer)
Quite daring of KATAGORY V to enter the race with such a sound. When I say "sound", I'm not actually talking about the songs, but the production itself, which, in my opinion, could be much better. The music creeps along tinny and makes me shrink back immediately. Music-wise, KATAGORY V try their hand at a mixture of early PSYCHOTIC WALTZ and modern progressive / power metal. The performance is solid, and the necessary portion of complex melodies gives the compositions a certain charm. But the poor sound evokes the impression that you are listening to a work from the early or mid-eighties. If the band claimed that this was done on purpose, I would like to ask them whether anybody still needs such an artificially created old-school sound today. Back then there were so many excellent albums with a lousy sound that no-one needs a remake of the old times. Even the vocalist often reminds me of BUDDY LACKEY. So after listening to the album several times, I'm quite sure that KATAGORY V really intend to sound like PSYCHOTIC WALTZ. The resemblance is just too striking.
That's nearly all I can say. PSYCHOTIC WALTZ-fans will definitely like "A New Breed Of Rebellion". But I still prefer the original. And, sorry, I just can't put up with that baking tray sound.
Normally, 4 points would be justified for such an interesting album with a rather good songwriting. I'll subtract 1 point for the sound, and maybe another for the fact that it is merely a solid album without any apparent highlights. Well. The latter point is just a question of taste, so I'll stick to a fat 3
If KATAGORY V are able to improve their performance, I'm quite sure they will go for the 5 points in the future.
Rating: 3/5
Review by: Wooks
www.prettiesforyou.com
This is the 2nd release from Utah based Power/Prog combo Katagory 5 and it's not a bad effort on their behalf. At first I could sense of bit of early Queensryche from the Rage For Order period or even Crimson Glory in their style of music. Vocalist Lynn Allers ain't no Geoff Tate or even Midnight but he makes a good stab at presenting a half decent vocal performance. The guitar work from Trevor Asire and Curtis Morrell, (who also produced the album), is pretty good. Drum and bass parts are OK, nothing to scream about. But where this album let's itself down is the overall production it's dull and lifeless and if I didn't know any better I would have said it had been recorded in one of the guys living rooms or basements using cheap and nasty equipment that they loaned from a friend, who told them that it was state of the art, yeah probably in the 60's!! I think that if this band are to succeed and grow in the future, they either have to look at doing their next album with a different record company or asking their present one to stump up a bit more cash to get the production right on their next album, instead of ploughing money into a good album cover and packaging. For me the cover is a tool to sell the music, if the production of music is crap, it doesn't matter how you dress it up it will always be crap.
Overall this is a slightly above average release let down by a small production budget.
Points: 5.6 out of 10
Review by: Tom Klaner
www.bright-eyes.de Germany
(translated by Uli Bauer)
With their second album, KATAGORY V from Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) put us to the ultimate test once more. This CD has already been available in the States since the beginning of this year, but it took until now to arrive on my desk. It is a shame that such an album remains quite unappreciated. After the usual line-up changes, the Americans are now getting things moving on all fronts with their new masterpiece "A New Breed of Rebellion". All friends of the the complete FATES WARNING collection and early QUEENSRYCHE-works should start looking for an internet-shop having this US-imported CD in stock. If you are hungry for highest-quality progressive power metal, you can sink your teeth into this tasty tidbit without remorse. Even though the sound may not blow out of your speakers like a "category V" hurricane, there are some excellent songs on "A New Breed of Rebellion". There are only few lucky bands that have a singer of Lynn Allers' abilities, who often sounds like former FATES WARNING vocalist John Arch (just listen to "No Response", incredible!). But the first proof for KATAGORY V's skills in playing an composing is already the opening track "Sands of Time", which is a truly outstanding song. The last song "One Last Time" sounds much different, quite calm, something like a thoughtful ballad with emotional depth, which makes the band even sound a bit like CRIMSON GLORY. Some more highlights are e.g. "Turn To Grey" and "Your Dreams", which are absolutely far above average. If you dig the underground scene of American progressive power metal, like I personally do, you will definitely get your money's worth. Even though the sound may be a bit thin and may remind of a demo, please give it a try. After all, these five musicians deliver a performance which is much better than a whole lot of albums from Europe. With KATAGORY V something very special is growing
Review by: ???
www.tombstone.gr Greece
If I am not mistaken this is the sophomore album of this American classic American power metal band. First of all the guys need a new singer since their current singer is a tragedy. Simply put the man can't sing. He can't deliver and it doesn't matter if the material is heavier or more melodic or whatever. Secondly they are in need of better songs and much better arrangements and third but not last they certainly need to improve the production of their next album. The musicianship is not bad, but it's nothing special either. I think that they really need to reevaluate their priorities and their direction and they definitely need to find a way to improve, either by practice, either by changing their
line up. It looks like it's an album where the band got everything wrong and the few interesting moments are just too few to count.
Review By: Spyros murray Telias
www.metaleagle.com Greece
This is another band coming from America, after DIVISION. Metal Ages Records released this album 10 months before. I don't know why this CD (along with DIVISION's one) was given to us for a review now, but this is something we should not stick on to, as we have to deal with a very good band from Utah, and we'd better focus on it. "A New Breed Of Rebellion" is their second album featuring a change in the line up, as ex-guitarist Ryan Taylor left the band and was replaced by Trevor Asire. With this line up the band started writing new material, which was finally released last January. The sound is a mix of progressive with power metal, flourished with many melodic moments and melancholic parts (take for example the title track). Tranquillity is suddenly "crushed" by heavy faster parts. Nice and complex structure of the songs, but they manage to keep your ears stuck on their music till the last note. All players are great performers and especially the singer brought in mind Ray Alder (FATES WARNING), Geoff Tate (QUEENSRYCHE) and King Diamond. The only "dark point" is the production, which sounded very minimal to my ears. This kind of music needs better production, and that is an obstacle for the band, but it shouldn't scare or prevent you from testing KATAGORY V.
7,5/10
