2006-03-14
Italian metal label "My Graveyard Production" has done very well indeed with the signing of Italy's Screaming Shadows, whose album is a well crafted, well produced quality slab of power metal, which forgoes the usual elements of kitsch and infuses the music with some well needed aggression and heaviness.
One thing that amazed me with this release is the high level of professionalism the band has, though they started out at about '97, their craftsmanship is the level of a much older and more experienced band, playing here is top notch, and the band is also blessed with one of the best power metal vocalist's I've heard.
It wastes no time with the usual intros, the album blasts forth with the epic and melodic "Where Reigns The World", fast double bass drumming, a bit of an
Iron Maiden feel in the guitar melodies. Its very much apparent that the band has a serious asset in its vocalist, soaring mid range vocals that are powerful and well used, another thing that came to mind was the bass work's similarity's to
Manowar's, as well as in the sound.
“In The Name Of God”, the title song, is another example of the amount of strength the vocals add to the release; a real class act, there's a heavy, almost thrash-like bridge in the middle, and this is quite heavy in relation to most Italian power bands.
Tracks 5 and 6 are actually one long and epic track divided into two, the first part is an acoustic segment, using some background vocals, it has a kind of a middle ages vibe in it, it continues into what is the only ballad of the album, still, they manage to avoid the kitsch element and do it well, the track then connects to track 6, where the acoustics are replaced by distortion and power metal is back again.
The strangely named: "The Shits Are Everywhere" is what sounds like a protest, perhaps even a political track, this is no regular power metal, with its dragons and swords - this band has something to say.
I have to sum this up by saying the band is certainly going somewhere, the album is very well played, expertly sang, and it has a lot of strength and originality, this is one band I'll be keeping an eye on.
Alon Miasnikov
