Primal Fear: Devils Ground (Nuclear Blast)
Immediately predictable but instantly enjoyable, the latest effort from Primal Fear has them sounding even more like Judas Priest than ever before. And thats saying something! Scheepers opening wail on Metal is Forever sounds more like Halford than Halford himself. This is shameless plagarism, but its so much fun its almost excusable. The spoken word track at the end sounds like a German guy trying to sound like James Earl Jones to uinintentionally amusing effect. Awesome riffs stolen from Ram it Down and Painkiller and killer songs.
Majesty: Reign in Glory (Massacre)
If Primal Fear sound like Judas Priest, these guys are like Manowar, but even more over the top and cheesy! Thought that wasnt possible? Guess again! Majesty is so cheesy Im surprised they havent been mistaken for a cheddar factory. This is bad, embarassing heavy metal with laughable choruses like Are you ready to fight? (Yes! We! Are!) and songs about taking metal Into the Stadiums. Manowar has much to answer for, and in this case, it aint good.
Prototype: Trinity (Massacre)
Prototype is a progressive thrash metal band with something of a Dream Theater quality to much of their work. They have that melodic vocal style that makes so many prog bands sound virtually indistinguishable from one another, but Trinity is a thoroughly good listen. The songwriting is tight and the heavy guitar sound is certainly on the thrash side of things without losing its melodic focus. Prototype keeps it succinct with one only song going over the six minute mark; this track, Dead of Jericho is the true stand-out here with a nice arrangement and some cool drum moves from one-time Steel Prophet member Pat Magrath, but the whole album has plenty of good moments. Quite an impressive debut and strong potential for the future.
Chalice: Augmented (Modern Invasion)
Emerging from a short hibernation, Adelaides Chalice is back with their third album. Augmented follows the same path that the band has taken with their previous issues, featuring sprawling mini-epics of melodic Goth metal with delicate vocals intertwining with ghost-like flutes and flourishes of lead guitar. Child of the Matador really stands out with its Spanish flavour, given impetus by Joss Separovic from Infernal Method guesting on acoustic guitar. Elsewhere, however, most of the tracks suffer from sounding too much alike, as if the whole album was a single, one-hour long track without much variety in pace or mood. Nice as a background diversion, though.
Immediately predictable but instantly enjoyable, the latest effort from Primal Fear has them sounding even more like Judas Priest than ever before. And thats saying something! Scheepers opening wail on Metal is Forever sounds more like Halford than Halford himself. This is shameless plagarism, but its so much fun its almost excusable. The spoken word track at the end sounds like a German guy trying to sound like James Earl Jones to uinintentionally amusing effect. Awesome riffs stolen from Ram it Down and Painkiller and killer songs.
Majesty: Reign in Glory (Massacre)
If Primal Fear sound like Judas Priest, these guys are like Manowar, but even more over the top and cheesy! Thought that wasnt possible? Guess again! Majesty is so cheesy Im surprised they havent been mistaken for a cheddar factory. This is bad, embarassing heavy metal with laughable choruses like Are you ready to fight? (Yes! We! Are!) and songs about taking metal Into the Stadiums. Manowar has much to answer for, and in this case, it aint good.
Prototype: Trinity (Massacre)
Prototype is a progressive thrash metal band with something of a Dream Theater quality to much of their work. They have that melodic vocal style that makes so many prog bands sound virtually indistinguishable from one another, but Trinity is a thoroughly good listen. The songwriting is tight and the heavy guitar sound is certainly on the thrash side of things without losing its melodic focus. Prototype keeps it succinct with one only song going over the six minute mark; this track, Dead of Jericho is the true stand-out here with a nice arrangement and some cool drum moves from one-time Steel Prophet member Pat Magrath, but the whole album has plenty of good moments. Quite an impressive debut and strong potential for the future.
Chalice: Augmented (Modern Invasion)
Emerging from a short hibernation, Adelaides Chalice is back with their third album. Augmented follows the same path that the band has taken with their previous issues, featuring sprawling mini-epics of melodic Goth metal with delicate vocals intertwining with ghost-like flutes and flourishes of lead guitar. Child of the Matador really stands out with its Spanish flavour, given impetus by Joss Separovic from Infernal Method guesting on acoustic guitar. Elsewhere, however, most of the tracks suffer from sounding too much alike, as if the whole album was a single, one-hour long track without much variety in pace or mood. Nice as a background diversion, though.
