Unchained Reality - Unchained Reality
This is a debut effort from this Dutch band, immediately I am drawn to the vocals. If you liked John Bush’s excursion within Anthrax, then I think you will find favour, in fact as it’s a mix of metal a groove thrash, you may well find yourself comparing to some latter Armored Saint tunes, but this may be like my thinking, be more for the vocals and the phrasing more so.
For the thrashers, especially ‘Computerized Humanity’ you will find rejoice in the similar sounds of modern Annihilator or even a touch of Exodus without the rawness (if you want rawness check out ‘Still Fucking Mad’ with some massive Slayer-isms). Then the riffing after about 54 seconds reminds me of the mighty Judas Priest. There’s a mixed bag for sure. This happened a lot in the last decade and not being unkind, I think this is where this sound fits. It’s still cool though. ‘Wrong Place Wrong Time’ is another driven staccato choppy driven tune, I like the vocal melody here and the lyrics are very applicable to the modern state of society. There are some Halford-isms here, his solo material, there’s a bit here and there that pepper your interest and in fact when this gets an airing in bigger surroundings then yeah, my rating improves and goes higher.
Is there anything missing? I would certainly like a “fresher” sound, a touch less compressed, but this may well ruin the whole feel of the release which in my book is a nice journey with a solid reliable friend.
For the thrashers, especially ‘Computerized Humanity’ you will find rejoice in the similar sounds of modern Annihilator or even a touch of Exodus without the rawness (if you want rawness check out ‘Still Fucking Mad’ with some massive Slayer-isms). Then the riffing after about 54 seconds reminds me of the mighty Judas Priest. There’s a mixed bag for sure. This happened a lot in the last decade and not being unkind, I think this is where this sound fits. It’s still cool though. ‘Wrong Place Wrong Time’ is another driven staccato choppy driven tune, I like the vocal melody here and the lyrics are very applicable to the modern state of society. There are some Halford-isms here, his solo material, there’s a bit here and there that pepper your interest and in fact when this gets an airing in bigger surroundings then yeah, my rating improves and goes higher.
Is there anything missing? I would certainly like a “fresher” sound, a touch less compressed, but this may well ruin the whole feel of the release which in my book is a nice journey with a solid reliable friend.
- Better Off
- Computerized Humanity
- In My Way
- You Will Always Be Alive (Ad's Song)
- Stranger
- Pain
- Legalize
- Wrong Place Wrong Time
- Still Fucking Mad
- Open Your Eyes
- Fearless
