When you were 15 what did you listen to? Seeing as that was eight years ago for this scribe (old man) I had the choice of listening to the same old cheesy pop on the radio, which has been ripped off, shredded and reformatted into today’s music, or listen to that faint glow on the horizon…
Ah yes, the overwhelming sound of distortion and feelings that were pushing past all of it and heading straight towards me like a freight train. 2001 will always stick in my mind as a turning point in my life. It was a time when I stopped listening to all that “synthetic” noise (pun intended) and realised that metal and rock were now my new life and I have SOiL and a few others to thank for that.
All the way from ‘Scars’ in ‘01, the first of their albums I listened to, up to ‘Picture Perfect’ in 2009 there has been a constant theme that these lads have kept. Keep it sombre, keep it heavy and keep it rock. It is evident though, that the band have taken a few steps away from their trademark ferocity and genre-bending roots on this record and that they have stepped into more classic metal territory.
So now it’s time to push the almighty button of shuffle…
In my opinion the best song from the new album is definitely ‘The Lesser Man’ as it has a very strange country-rock twist that makes for an intriguing amalgamation of old and new styles. It reminds me of a cross between the progressive style of Breed 77 and the full-on raw rock onslaught of Black Stone Cherry.
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The next song is ‘Calling Out’. You can definitely here the 90s shine out in this one. It has the essence of the emotions encapsulated within the music of prominent bands such as Seether, Marilyn Manson and some old-school Linkin Park. It is a very well defined track that runs rings around the more melodic and softer tracks on the album.
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‘The Devil’s Sitting On My Shoulder’ is up next and in my opinion it’s definitely the heaviest song from the album. If you are a fan of the nu-metal era then you will love ‘Temptation.’ It mixes all the elements that Mudvayne, Static X and Coal Chamber brought to us in their prime and it drags them kicking and screaming forward into now.
In summary, this album will really take you back to your roots and it really has something for every metal fan. It’s a definite must for your mp3 and CD collection.
Check out: ‘The Lesser Man’ and ‘Temptation’.
For more information visit the official MySpace.
