Rising From Ashes (Digipak)

BY Silent Force

(Customer Reviews)

$16.00

SKU: AFM235-9

Label:

AFM Records

: Category:
Melodic Metal

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Digipak edition with bonus track.

"These Power Metal merchants are held in high regard thanks to their personnel who have the experience, plus the previous four albums by Silent Force have held the attention mixing the hooks with rampant guitar riffs and their flair for clinical execution.

Their last album, 'Walk The Earth', was unleashed back in 2007 so there has been plenty of water under the proverbial bridge leading up to this release.

One notable difference for fans of Silent Force is the absence of D.C. Cooper on lead vocals. He has returned to the mighty Danish Melodic Progressive Rock band Royal Hunt and on this album is replaced by Michael Bormann known for his work with Bloodbound and Powerworld.

Known as the main brain behind these Metal marauders, Alex Beyrodt starts the proceedings with some Yngwie Malmsteen style fretwork before 'Caught In Their Wicked Game' runs loose. Fast paced and ready to eliminate the competition the band sound hungry and eager to please.

The new vocalist here really complements the sound, but may have some struggles winning over purists who yearn for their favourite original singer. 'There Ain't No Justice' and 'Circle Of Trust' both thrust the sword through the torso as the energy remains relentless.

I really enjoyed the opening salvo of these three songs the first time I heard this album, through to the fifth spin and so on. The latter of these three tracks retains a pop sensibility, but loses none of the Metal credentials that you'd expect from this band.

Not much to find fault about regarding 'Living To Die' which doesn't have the same prominent and obvious hooks as the previous songs, but still retains the quality. Listen out for some tasty keys from Alessandro Del Vecchio in the song 'Before You Run' and there's some mean riffing throughout 'You Gotta Kick It'. The balancing trick between the keys and guitar is the love affair that makes this album so appealing to the ears. They are the real stars from start to finish.

Sarah has a lot to answer for as 'Turn Me Loose' tackles a relationship lyrically and maintains the groove in the backdrop. Solid drumming from André Hilgers keeps the good ship Silent Force on course providing a solid backbone, but is still unable to save this song from being below par in comparison to the rest. Perhaps slipping a little through the gears and reaching auto-pilot, 'Born To Be A Fighter' goes through the numbers competently enough, but the sparks aren't flying.

Meanwhile, 'Anytime Anywhere' picks up the level of quality and mixes things up with a fine arrangement oozing melodies at each turn. This brings us to the final track 'Kiss Of Death' which chugs along like your favourite Metal anthem. The chorus stands up well and is a great way to round off what overall has been an enjoyable journey.

Eight out of ten of the songs here are monuments to their reputation and abilities. Top quality musicianship, crisp production and power found in the crevices are all that I was hoping for initially, plus a feisty and strong delivery from the new vocalist. Thankfully, they tick the boxes consistently apart from a couple of weaker tracks that don't quite reach up to the benchmark they set with the rest of the album. Let power and melody unite in a blissful collision once more, as album number five aligns itself with their back catalogue." - Metal Talk

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Power Metal

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Schulze, Klaus
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Progressive Rock

Volume 6 in this amazing series is a 3CD set that covers the time period 1976 through 1979. Arthur Brown appears on the performance culled from a gig in Brussels in 1979. Awesome!
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Within Silence
Gallery Of Life

Power Metal

"Formed in 2008 under the (thankfully dropped) name Rightdoor, Within silence are a melodic power metal band in the vein of Blind Guardian. As such you can expect huge swathes of guitar, souring vocals and banks of keyboards all vying for space amidst the pounding rhythms and heroic soloing. Growing steadily, the band have taken their time to draft their debut offering, the gleaming ‘gallery of life’, and it appears that it has been time well spent because the rehearsals, the time spent writing and then honing material on the road with the likes of Blaze Bayley has paid off with this confident and powerful album.Opening with a short, choral ‘intro’, ‘gallery of life’ immediately sets out its stall as an ambitious body of work designed to be heard as one contiguous piece. The intro builds nicely to the powerful guitars of ‘silent desire’. A perfect opening song, ‘silent desire’ immediately highlights the fact this is a production that oozes quality. The guitars are razor sharp, the choruses soar memorably and the playing is ultra-precise. It shows that Within Silence will settle for nothing less than perfection and there’s a sparkling ambition here that is impossible to ignore. ‘Emptiness of night’ is a fast-paced rocker with blazing guitars and a full-on vocal performance that is both powerful and brimming with confidence. There’s a strong Iron Maiden influence underpinning the cracking pace and guitar work, and it’s clear that the band have nothing less than world domination in their sights. Keeping the energy levels high, ‘Elegy of doom’ is another taut rocker with a rampaging riff and just the right amount of keyboard to add atmosphere without overpowering the song. It’s an early highlight of the record and make no mistake, within silence are a band who like to rock! It’s a trend that continues on the equally stunning, ‘The last drop of blood’, a full-on belter of a track that sounds like the band channelling Metallica, Maiden and Judas Priest all at once. It’s one of those adrenalin packed tracks that will get the blood pumping no matter what, and it must surely be a live favourite with its brutal riffs and memorable chorus. The track reaches its peak, however, with the excellent extended solo that runs wild over the second half of the song. Showing a lighter touch, ‘Love is blind’ keeps the energy levels maxed out but offers up a more pop-infused side of the band than found elsewhere, and whilst it still remains on the metallic side of the musical spectrum, it shows that Within silence have both the talent and confidence to fully explore their genre.The band briefly slow their pace for the more subtle opening strains of ‘anger and sorrow’, although the song does not take long to explode into a typically multi-stranded beast complete with extended solos and deft changes. Representing Within Silence at their most commercial sounding, ‘Judgement day’ is the sort of rollicking heavy metal ride that would have been all over the radio back in the eighties. Powerful and driven by a chorus that is only slightly less addictive than crack, ‘judgement day’ is a beast of a track. Next up, pounding drums lead us into ‘the world of slavery’, a song with a strong folk influence. Another track that benefits from some stunning guitar work, ‘the world of slavery’ is a metal epic that only gets better with repeated listens. The album concludes with ‘road to paradise’ which dips into ‘seventh son…’ era Maiden for inspiration. Another epic length track, it is a last chance for the musicians to spread their wings and soar, something which they duly do in impressive fashion. A short ‘outro’ sees the disc spin to a halt with choral voices echoing in the dark. It is a suitably dramatic ending for a CD that takes the listener on a wonderful journey from start to finish.Power metal can be, all too often, a genre where the keyboard elements overshadow the metallic elements. Thankfully, Within Silence, perhaps because of their lengthy time spent out on the road, keep their sound hard-edged throughout and the result is an album that packs a similar punch to the classic Maiden albums of the early eighties. There are crunchy riffs galore, endless solos and the sort of huge, soaring choruses that have made Blind Guardian such a powerful force. Talented, oozing confidence and with a wonderfully powerful set of songs, Within Silence have arrived and metal fans had best sit up and take notice, because these guys have the skill and the burning ambition to go far." - Sonic Abuse
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Riot
Thundersteel/The Privilege Of Power (2CD)

Power Metal

"Released on 16/11/09. CD1 – Thunder Steel. This 1988 album takes everything that was metal at the time and is a classic combining thrashing guitars and pounding percussion indicative of the underground thrash movement of the time. It has more riffs than Anthrax and undertones of the hair metal that was riding the charts at that time. It is a classic and has everything that makes metal great! CD2 – The Privilege Of Power. This 1990 album saw the band augment their state-of-the-art heavy metal sound with horns, courtesy of the Brecker Brothers and Tower Of Power. It also features guest vocals by Joe Lynn turner (rainbow). The album employs 10 complex tracks that work as a single unit."
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Manticora
8 Deadly Sins

Metal/Hard Rock

Ol' Leatherlungs Lars is back with his band in tow. Yet another concept album it is - filled with a hi-intensity mix of power, trash and speed. Fasten your seatbelts - this one is stuck in overdrive.
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Anathema
Falling Deeper (Vinyl)

Progressive Rock

Vinyl edition. Falling Deeper finds Anathema reworking older material, backed by a 26 piece orchestra. The band is complemented by former Gathering vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen.
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Frame
Frame Of Mind (Vinyl)

Progressive Rock

One of the great overlooked albums released on Bellaphon's progressive Bacilus label. Heavy organ/Mellotron clawing for space with blistering guitar leads. Not too surprising some of this sounds a bit like labelmates Nektar.Limited gatefold vinyl edition of 500 copies."Strongly interconnected with fellow Marburg band Pell Mell, though the musical connection is not always so obvious, Frame exhibited a style that had very little in common with them really, being much more influenced by the late-60's heavy psychedelia and blues rock by the likes of Deep Purple or Vanilla Fudge. Only some of the rhythmic structures hinted at the Pell Mell connection. Mixing in folky styles and progressive touches into their heavy rock style, their sole album FRAME OF MIND bore the unmistakable stamp of Dieter Dierks at the mixing desk, with great use of dynamics and stereo dimension. Really varied, steering away from the mainstream of early-70's rock, with many classic moves and excellent vocals, all giving it that something special, it's an album that's still amazingly fresh even today. Andy Kirnberger was a featured guest on early Pell Mell albums, after Frame's demise he went on to the vastly inferior Hardcake Special, whilst Cherry Hochdörfer and Wolfgang Klaus moved to Pell Mell.Andy Kirnberger (guitars, vocals, piano), Cherry Hochdörfer (organ, piano, Mellotron, spinet), Peter Lotz (bass, vocals, percussion), Dieter Becker (vocals, percussion), Wolfgang Claus (drums, percussion)" - Crack In The Cosmic Egg
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Sorronia
Words of Silence

Gothic Metal

"Hailing from Hungary, Sorronia have been quietly honing and evolving their sound and style since their formation in late 2011. Now that everything is in place the band have released their debut offering ‘Words Of Silence’.Falling neatly into the Symphonic Metal bracket, Sorronia have come up with a rather tasty debut, the female vocal of Anna Király is particularly effective, displaying a real warmth and depth balanced with no shortage of emotion. Musically, the band have developed an excellent balance between the guitar riffs and the orchestral elements, leading to an almost fifty fifty split between the two, neither swamping or drowning out the other, all of which makes for an extremely accessible album.There are a good few tracks worthy of special mention, my personal favourite, ’Shattered’, is a glorious, piano and string led song with an incredibly catchy, pop tinged hook and chorus, a track I could see being a real gem when played live. ’Leave It Behind’, another really strong track, with a Gothic overtone that creates a darker atmosphere than some of the other compositions. Album closer ’This Is The End’ is a near perfect choice for the task, encompassing, as it does all that the band have set out to achieve with this record.The production sound contributes a lot to the finished article of course, and a really great job it is that’s been done as well. All aspects of the bands sound has been carefully balanced, ensuring that the album works as a complete unit rather than a sporadic and disjointed affair.The only problem I can see for Sorronia, is that they are competing in a currently rather saturated marketplace, where a host of bands are jostling and presenting themselves as the next big thing in the genre. Sorronia however, have undoubted talent and if the strength of writing and performance continues on this level then they should easily survive the cut. Well recommended." - Planet Mosh
$13.00

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Aristocrats
Culture Clash (CD/DVD)

Fusion

Oh so you say you want to get fancy? How about the CD/DVD digipak edition? The bonus DVD comes with live footage from the recording of the album as well as interviews.Second studio album from what may be the ultimate chops band. Guthrie Govan (guitars), Bryan Beller (bass), and Marco Minnemann (drums) turn it up an notch further. Everything is set to 11 on this one. Lots of notes flying around and different styles as well - on "Louisville Stomp: I'm hearing some cool country style pickin' from Guthrie Govan that is welcome and unexpected. He sounds like the second coming of Danny Gatton. Other tracks are a non-stop shredfest - that's what the Aristocrats are all about. Highly recommended.
$27.00

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Riverside
Rapid Eye Movement

Progressive Rock

Third and final part of the trilogy of albums begun with Out Of Myself and continued on with Second Life Syndrome. Rapid Eye Movement is a conceptual work which has a common thread with the first two works - one of isolation and introspection. The main character becomes more emersed in his loneliness becoming further entrenched in an alternate mind state - what vocalist Mariusz Duda called a "reality dreamworld". A metaphysical journey through inner space - Rapid Eye Movement contains all of the band's characteristic musical traits - spaciness, heaviness, and pure emotion. Additional forays into the metallic world are present but so are some interesting Asian themes. The heavier aspects of the bands music should not deter their fans - they still spin around the same axis as Porcupine Tree, Anathema, Pink Floyd and Tool. Riverside continue to make deep, thought provoking progressive music that rocks. Rapid Eye Movement is a complete success!
$16.00

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