I picked this up after finding the band on facebook. It happened to be on sale for a fiver and what I’d already heard by them very much appealed, so I broke into the PayPal coffers and forked out for a copy.
A few days later and it popped through the door, ready to be ripped to mp3. Yes, I know I could just them from iTunes rather than buying a CD then ripping it but a) I like having a physical copy of my music and b) I hate iTunes (and Amazon’s online mp3 sales system as well). Have you ever seen someone queue up after a gig to get an mp3 signed? Exactly – you need a CD or vinyl sleeve!
Oh, or a car. I need to dig out that photo of Pantera‘s Rex Brown g some guy’s car bonnet after the Newcastle gig some time.
I digress.
Frequently.
The album! Yes, Ravenface’s second album and – frankly – it’s a pearler. As I said in the “new band of the day” post I did on them, you could pigeon hole them as melodic death metal. After listening a little longer (about 10 times to the album so far), I’d say the best way to describe them that I can think of is “In Waves-era Trivium, only a little less thrashy and with more of a focus on the melodic rather than harsh vocals“.
This, of course, is no bad thing. Personally, I think that In Waves is Trivium’s best album and for a band to happen to have a sound which takes those elements and weaves another forty minutes out of them is fine by me.
I don’t know who did the production on the album (the sleeve is remarkably bereft of information), but they’ve done a cracking job on the mix. The bass notes thud through perfectly, the melodic guitars are clear and resonant, lead and backing vocals never buried.
Highlight tracks? Phew, tough. Probably “Arise” for me, though looking at the comments on their facebook page “Underworld” gets a lot of love as well.
I’d like to know how their live performance matches up to this, and I may get a chance if I can make it to Les-Fest this year. In the meantime for those of you elsewhere in the UK, the band are doing their own headline tour through April and also play the Liverpool date on the Headbangers Balls tour on the 16th of August.
You can This is Annihilation from the evil Apple iTunes store or get a proper CD copy of Divided Kingdoms from Big Cartel.
