After Dark - The
Resurrection EP
Michael Ballue - hellridemusic.com
I'm not sure this band (featuring ex-members
of Agnosis and Supervillan) hasn't done some small scale shooting
themselves in the foot with this press sheet which claims "crushingly
heavy while avoiding traditional metal clichŽs " and then in the next
breath influences such as Danzig, White Zombie and Alice Cooper. To
their credit they are definitely far heavier than any of their stated
influences. And to my ears those influences are far from obvious.
There's a touch of Danzig in the vocal melody lines, a hint of White
Zombie in the occasional "pumping beat" rhythm and a chorus here and
there, and just a ghost of old Alice in the song writing.
The reason I say the press sheet may be doing them no favors is that by
and large this material is better than the majority of Danzig and White
Zombie's material and not too likely to appeal to fans of old Alice
Cooper. "God of the New Flesh" is first up and a pretty good statement
of intent with the very clear and powerful production (engineering and
production done by band members, so big kudos there) putting the
thickness of the guitars and the pummeling of the rhythm section right
up in the speakers. Topped off with growling but decipherable vocals,
this song shows the bands ability to write and perform songs that are
seriously heavy but remarkably catchy at the same time (no mean feat
that). The following four tunes all manage to carry some element of
that combination to them, but with significantly different levels. Two
of them: "Lost in a World of Ghosts" and "Blood is Horror" set the bar
even higher and heavier than the opener and two: "Resurrection" and
"Susperia" straying dangerously toward (but not fully into) overly
commercial territory.
I get the feeling that this band would get a crowd going live (and no
doubt have in the Lower East Side Clubs). This is a promising debut,
especially worth looking into for those into the more commercial end of
heavy rock. I usually don't have much time for that end of the
spectrum, it's rarely heavy or catchy enoughÉ.but in this case
the majority of the time it is.
