Circle of Silence is a fairly new group for me. Only releasing one album prior to "The Rise of Resistence", CoS have worked quite hard for the last two years on TRoR and the album artwork mimics that of bands I have followed before. A strong album cover may not be the best judgement for an album, but it does hold some weight especially when paying your hard earned cash for it.
(Circle of Silence - The Rise of Resistance)
But weaving it's impressive and important thread is melodic and harmonic guitar leads. This element alone raises The Rise of Resistance to a level most modern metal bands will never reach. It's also the thread that makes the album believable, authentic, heavy metal, making the swings to current metal nuances quite bearable. When it works well together it works best as on Nothing Shall Remain, An Oncoming Storm, or the powerful Slave to the Greed Machine, where vocalist Niklas Keim tones down grinding anger. Label promotional material wants to compare this album to Iced Earth, Savatage, or Germany's own Brainstorm, but that's an illusion. Fundamentally, The Rise of Resistance is traditional heavier power metal made edgier by modern metal harsh nuances. Listen for yourself below, and form your own opinion. -Danger Dog
Huntress has an dropping today as well for all the metal heads. Huntress I am mixed on because I still can't quite tell if it's sex with metal or metal with sex. The music is good don't get me wrong, but like other websites I have read reviews on the band seems to be focusing on the front woman versus the concept of the band as a whole. Maybe mixed views from sites and ultimately have to contact the band themselves. Anyone got a press contact? haha
(Huntress - Starbound Beast)
The album is full of killer, complex, memorable riffs, perversely knotty guitar solos, propulsive drumming, and Jill Janus singing and snarling with real authority. "Blood Sisters" is melodic, thrashing death metal with infectious choruses and chugging twin-guitar riffing. The prog elements in "Receiver," with Janus soaring to the top of her range, are another highlight, with the guitars staggering their riff interplay and the rhythm section deftly cueing the various different segments. "Alpha Tauri" is atmospheric prog metal with several dynamic and textural changes led by theatrical riffs and Janus' alternately declamatory and wistful signing. The only ding against Starbound Beast is its single, I Want to F*** You to Death." Its lyrics were penned by Mötorhead's Lemmy Kilmister, who is usually the king of sexual innuendo. Not here. Janus even emulates his phrasing. Otherwise, Starbound Beast reveals tremendous growth in the band's songwriting; the music is more imaginative, varied, and ambitious, and reveals that Huntress isn't about to be pigeonholed into a specific sub-genre -- they can play it all. -All Music
Oh, Sleeper is a guilty pleasure that have been keeping my eye on. In the short time they have been a successful touring band (have already released three successful albums) they have managed to capture all the great qualities of a standard metalcore band. What sets them aside from others? Nothing HUGE if that's what you're looking for but their winning combination of breakdowns, melody and guest musicians can surely satisfy your ear drums. They got a good thing going so why stop the fun? This "Titan" concept that they have been crowd funding for seems to have a really great story behind it. Let's hope they can pull all the albums together for their own masterpiece.
(Oh, Sleeper - Titan EP)
"The Lone Ranger: Wanted" was my one off today. Venturing far from the likes of the other releases, TLR soundtrack has a solid lineup of talent musicians (Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Lucinda Williams, Iron & Wine, Iggy Pop, etc.) offering inspirational songs created around the film. Not that it adds any more zest to the film, but I'm confident that it will sit well with other listeners.
...producer Gore Verbinski has assembled an eclectic but kindred group of musical spirits to craft complementary pieces to the tale, some of which connect directly, such as the fierce “Butch's Ballad' from Gomez, but most of which capture the spirit and ambience of the Wild West with mixed but generally solid results. -Denver Post
So a little bit different of a format today since I seemed to be going on and on about ONLY four albums. I guess this comes a point where one could philosophically argue quality versus quantity. Have any of you had the chance to preview the albums yet? If you haven't then I strongly suggest heading to your local record store, favourite online retailer or another legal source to grab them.
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