I'll be the first to admit that I was a bit skeptical of how this album would turn out. After I heard Nightmare, I thought to myself "oh god, here comes a bitter memoir to Rev in the key of typical mainstream watered down A7x." But with Portnoy behind the kit for this album, I still had hope. Being a fan of the band himself, he was hellbent on picking up Rev's sound to keep the sound authentic.
Well I got two out of three. The CD is littered with references to Jimmy's death. However, I was pleasantly surprised by its overall quality. It's a great fusion of Waking the Fallen, City of Evil and Self Titled with a natural maturation and progression of the band's sound (part of which can probably be attributed to having a legend in the studio, not to mention that Portnoy forgets more drum and music theory everyday than I learn)
He also did a fantastic job making it sound like Avenged. A few times throughout the CD I forgot that he was drumming because it blended so well.
There's more ballads than I would have liked and I feel like they take away from how well they did on the heavier stuff. I'll let em play but they're not to my taste.
It's also a darker album than the past couple. Instead of long, melodic guitar riffs and hooks, they've cranked the gain and let those low strings come to life. Even the slower songs have a much darker feel. Vocals are brutal at some points a la Seventh Trumpet and that was very refreshing and even brought a smile to my face. I wish Syn would have plugged into his Bogner for this album but what can you do? Still sounds good.
The last track on the album is called Save Me and it's almost 11 minutes long. It's a very interesting track because you can distinctly hear the progressions of the band throughout the years. Not sure if this was on purpose, but you can clearly tell what parts were influenced by Seventh Trumpet, City of Evil, etc.
I still need a few more listens before I can make solid judgment but so far it's been better than expectations.
Anyways, if anyone else has picked this up yet let's hear some thoughts.
Well I got two out of three. The CD is littered with references to Jimmy's death. However, I was pleasantly surprised by its overall quality. It's a great fusion of Waking the Fallen, City of Evil and Self Titled with a natural maturation and progression of the band's sound (part of which can probably be attributed to having a legend in the studio, not to mention that Portnoy forgets more drum and music theory everyday than I learn)
He also did a fantastic job making it sound like Avenged. A few times throughout the CD I forgot that he was drumming because it blended so well.
There's more ballads than I would have liked and I feel like they take away from how well they did on the heavier stuff. I'll let em play but they're not to my taste.
It's also a darker album than the past couple. Instead of long, melodic guitar riffs and hooks, they've cranked the gain and let those low strings come to life. Even the slower songs have a much darker feel. Vocals are brutal at some points a la Seventh Trumpet and that was very refreshing and even brought a smile to my face. I wish Syn would have plugged into his Bogner for this album but what can you do? Still sounds good.
The last track on the album is called Save Me and it's almost 11 minutes long. It's a very interesting track because you can distinctly hear the progressions of the band throughout the years. Not sure if this was on purpose, but you can clearly tell what parts were influenced by Seventh Trumpet, City of Evil, etc.
I still need a few more listens before I can make solid judgment but so far it's been better than expectations.
Anyways, if anyone else has picked this up yet let's hear some thoughts.
