Does the name Steve Grimmet ring a bell? No, maybe if I add some
other names like drummer Steve Grice, guitarist Alan Jordan and bass
player Jase Stallard, yes indeed they all have an Onslaught background. I
expected old school thrash, but besides some passages and riffs, it sure isn't
thrash, more mid tempo heavy metal with a lot of melody.
After a spoken intro,
the opener "Charlie" sounds rather interesting, it has a big Iced Earth
resemblance, but it still can't really impress me. After that I have listened to
all the other songs several times, but I can't find anything that really sticks.
The singing of Steve, especially in the track "Evil Beyond Belief", makes
me think of DIO at times and also some slower parts have Dio elements in them.
Nevertheless it gets boring after a while because of the song length.
There sure are some good ideas and the production is good, but in general the
songs are too long to stay interesting and there are too many slow tracks. Some
melodic pieces have a kind of Queensryche influence and some riffs make me think
of the band Megadeth, but the songs are just not strong enough and like I
already said, all 2 or 3 minutes too long.
An
album with a lot of good ideas, but with songs not strong enough to make a
difference. A little disappointing if you look at the line-up, a missed
opportunity.
