- Apr 5, 2003
- 2,668
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The Order - Son of Armageddon
Dockyard 1 - DY100270 - June 27th, 2006
By Brandon Strader
Welcome The Order... Yes, I'd like an apple pie with that. Some fries are introduced in the beginning with a sliding rhythm progression. After that, the "shake" is introduced in the right speaker as a harmony to the rhythm progression. Shortly afterwords, the hefty burger is brought to the table as the band begins their rampage of mad powerchord riffing accompanied by hard-rock vocals. What kind of burger is this, you ask? It's quite the clean burger with good production, maybe a couple sweaty armpit hairs here and there, but overall it proves to be a good snack that will fill you up until something better comes along...
The sound presented on The Order's debut album, Son of Armageddon, is part dumbed-down thrash, part hard rock, and a whole lot of attitude. If that last sentence didn't turn you off, I don't know what will! Think Metallica drifting even farther and farther into the mainstream... The vocalist has a bit of a rasp to his voice, and sings with the cockiness of a hard rock vocalist. The guitars have some great performances, including quick arpeggiated leads, some solos, and a ton of powerchord riffing, yet there are also a lot of moments that are completely uninspired and sound pretty effortless. One could almost say that the majority of riffs showcased on Son of Armageddon are recycled from other bands ranging from thrash to metalcore and beyond! At times the music can be really mundane, but at others, The Order transform into a completely different band playing a tune reminiscent of Whitesnake! Too bad they couldn't have been more consistent with this.
The first dash of originality and enjoyable songwriting comes with the track "On The Radio", which is ironic considering the radio songs are usually the most dumbed-down and retarded songs on these kinds of albums. Despite being the most enjoyable song, it is still pretty bad, and does fall back on the whole powerchord riff foundations. The vocalist singing alone over the drumbeat is a bit too obvious of a radio-hit move, but it sounds especially cool with the clean electric guitar breaks in. The melody is not especially technical or innovative, but it just sounds good and fits in pretty great with the progression. The next especially outstanding track on Son of Armageddon is somewhat of a ballad under the title, "Loved Died". The vocalist shows his skill with normal clean vocals, and the guitarist pull out some pleasant acoustic broken chords until the heavy (and catchy) chorus.
In conclusion, Son Of Armageddon is somewhat of a cruising-rocker compilation, or something you'd expect to hear a middle-aged dude in a biker gang blasting through his Harley-Davidson at a truckstop. It's cool and has a nice rockin' sound, but if originallity is your bag, you might want to fill it with something else! Not bad for a debut album, though.
7.5/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official The Order Website
Official Darkyard 1 Website
Dockyard 1 - DY100270 - June 27th, 2006
By Brandon Strader
Welcome The Order... Yes, I'd like an apple pie with that. Some fries are introduced in the beginning with a sliding rhythm progression. After that, the "shake" is introduced in the right speaker as a harmony to the rhythm progression. Shortly afterwords, the hefty burger is brought to the table as the band begins their rampage of mad powerchord riffing accompanied by hard-rock vocals. What kind of burger is this, you ask? It's quite the clean burger with good production, maybe a couple sweaty armpit hairs here and there, but overall it proves to be a good snack that will fill you up until something better comes along...
The sound presented on The Order's debut album, Son of Armageddon, is part dumbed-down thrash, part hard rock, and a whole lot of attitude. If that last sentence didn't turn you off, I don't know what will! Think Metallica drifting even farther and farther into the mainstream... The vocalist has a bit of a rasp to his voice, and sings with the cockiness of a hard rock vocalist. The guitars have some great performances, including quick arpeggiated leads, some solos, and a ton of powerchord riffing, yet there are also a lot of moments that are completely uninspired and sound pretty effortless. One could almost say that the majority of riffs showcased on Son of Armageddon are recycled from other bands ranging from thrash to metalcore and beyond! At times the music can be really mundane, but at others, The Order transform into a completely different band playing a tune reminiscent of Whitesnake! Too bad they couldn't have been more consistent with this.
The first dash of originality and enjoyable songwriting comes with the track "On The Radio", which is ironic considering the radio songs are usually the most dumbed-down and retarded songs on these kinds of albums. Despite being the most enjoyable song, it is still pretty bad, and does fall back on the whole powerchord riff foundations. The vocalist singing alone over the drumbeat is a bit too obvious of a radio-hit move, but it sounds especially cool with the clean electric guitar breaks in. The melody is not especially technical or innovative, but it just sounds good and fits in pretty great with the progression. The next especially outstanding track on Son of Armageddon is somewhat of a ballad under the title, "Loved Died". The vocalist shows his skill with normal clean vocals, and the guitarist pull out some pleasant acoustic broken chords until the heavy (and catchy) chorus.
In conclusion, Son Of Armageddon is somewhat of a cruising-rocker compilation, or something you'd expect to hear a middle-aged dude in a biker gang blasting through his Harley-Davidson at a truckstop. It's cool and has a nice rockin' sound, but if originallity is your bag, you might want to fill it with something else! Not bad for a debut album, though.
7.5/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official The Order Website
Official Darkyard 1 Website
