Monday, October 3, 2011

Storm King - Angels of Enmity Review

I havent' been able to post as much as I initially wanted to, life catches up to you sometimes.  Here is my very first CD review.  Hope you enjoy it.
Angels of Enmity - 2009
Adam Weston - Guitar
Andy Kichi - Guitar
Mark Bogacki - Bass
Tom D'Andrea - Drums
Scott Massie - Vocals


Storm King, Angels of Enmity is a great offering from the Pittsburgh metal community.  The entire bands has chops, and it comes out during each and every song on this Album.  Scott Massie has one of the most interesting voices in the community.  He’s just the beginning of the band though.  A very solid, solid album.  It has everything.  It starts off with a flurry of solos.  The solos are an awesome blend of melody with just enough shred to keep the guitar players listening happy.  Every song has a great place to bang your head, whether it’s a chunky gallop such as the offering in The Keeper of Shadows, or the end of Miss Anthropy with the extended palm muted section at the end.

There are so many tasteful leads on this album.  I can’t compliment them enough on this.  It makes my ears so happy when a guitarist in the metal scene can show that much feel in a lead, kudos.  I’m not the biggest fan of the all out shred-fest.  The drumming is solid, there aren’t any sections of drumming that particularly caught my ear.  This is not a bad thing, it just didn’t leave me with anything that made me go, “Damn, that was crazy!”.   Although, there was an instrumental - A Constant Struggle, I feel like it was slightly misplaced.  The song it’s self just asks for vocals, and I feel like there wasn’t necessarily enough going on with the guitar that justified not having vocals to the song.  That being said, it’s still a great track.  
If there was a track I had to pick as a favorite, it would have to be The Death Equation.  It’s got a very cool thrashy intro the is followed up by a cool riff with some natural harmonics... which then becomes a theme of the song.  The chromatic buildup to the chorus is also killer.  The chorus in the song is, in my opinion, why Storm King is who they are.  The harmony between the vocals and the guitars is just awesome.  The bass break in this song is very cool too.
I thoroughly enjoyed this cd.  And I will continue to enjoy it.  The production is on par with everything being put out right now, and the music is very pleasing to the ear.  Thanks to Storm King for putting out this great release, Evolution or Armageddon.  
-Jared

1 comment: