Band:
Veronica Freeman – vocals
Pete Wells – guitar
Tony Diaz – keyboard
Chris Shrum – bass
Mikey Pannone – drums
Discography:
Uncreation (2006)
Seasons of Tragedy (2008)
Guests:
Info
Produced by Ryan Greene
Released 18/2-2011
Reviewed 1/2-2011
Links:
benedictum.net
myspace
frontiers
This band clearly has some interesting surprises in store for the one who starts listening without getting to know anything about them as I did. More on that later on because now I will start with how the album sounds. The band has a musical style that is reminiscent of the music of the early eighties and late seventies of the classic rockers, Canadian band Rush is what I come to think of both because of musical style and because the vocal style reminds me of how Geddy Lee sounded back in the day. In words it means that the music is quite heavy with driving riffs and lots of power is what it is mostly about, the songs are varied in structure and sound, lots of varied vocals throughout the record and much to discover musically for the listener. Even if the album is quite varied throughout the album it never really strays outside the zone that can be considered to be the band’s style so it is varied without being unfocused if you like using clichés. The album lasts for just over an hour and ends with two bonus tracks.
One of these bonus tracks is a well known one, or part of one rather. For you who have read the titles of the song it is quite easy to know which I am speaking of. And for you who hasn’t seen it I can tell you that track thirteen is the first two sub-tracks of 2112 by Rush, Overture and Temples of Syrinx which was something that of course gave me a rush of joy as I own and enjoy this album, 2112 that is.
Another very striking thing about this band is that it is a female singing which is something I noted first when I was looking into information for my preparations in writing this review after I had heard this album for seven or eight times. That was quite a bit of a surprise for me as I hadn’t really thought it to be like that, she does not sound that female to be honest, it is kind of like Mandragora Scream where it was also hard to know it was a female singing. She has a lot of power in her voice, that’s for sure, although she can sing quite feminine as well.
I think this record holds a high quality throughout and I don’t get really bored despite it being 63 minutes long even though it feels a tad long in the middle before it awakens in the end again. And throughout there are some really high quality tracks the third track Seer is one of these, where the chorus has this amazing high pitched screaming of seer, each time it is mentioned in the chorus it is a high pitched singing where the word lasts of over ten seconds, it is one of those things that I really enjoy, high pitched screaming is always great as is this song which has a great feeling and a great chorus. Another track that makes a mark on me is Bang which is a really good and interesting track. Then we have the track Epsilon which a really good track with an excellent atmosphere and great feel to it. The bonus track Sanctuary is good as well, a little bit calmer than the tracks on the rest of the record but that works well here. Then comes the ending, it is of course the highlight of it all with this music, hearing such a great cover of something that is great to begin with, it is something that makes you leave the record just wanting to hear more.
I think this is just a great record, the small flaw is that it is over an hour long but in this case I can live with it as there is so much really good music on this album, and only Seer and Temples of Syrinx is enough to give this album at least a four but then there is more.
And the meek shall inherit the Earth!
HHHHHHH
