Band:
Robert Lowe - Vocals
John Perez - Guitars
Steve Moseley - Guitars
Steve Nichols - Drums
James Martin - Bass
Diskography:
Into the Depths of Sorrow (1991)
Beyond the Crimson Horizon (1992)
Through the Darkest Hour (1994)
Downfall (1996)
Adagio (1998)
Alone (2006)
Info
Finally the official release of the rare „Justice For All“ EP from 1988 with four bonus tracks
Remastered and compiled by John Perez
Released 15/7-2011
Reviewed 29/7-2011
If you when you listen to that band find similarities with a Swedish band called Candlemass there is a very good reason for this, which is that they share the same singer in Rob Lowe who has singing with Candlemass for their latest releases as well as doing his part with Solitude Aeturnus who has not released anything new since 2006. There is one thing with releases such as this I find puzzling though and that is why do it? Why release again some old demo stuff that sounds not even close to what you have achieved later on. I mean as a fan of for instance Styx I never find myself thinking that I would desperately want to hear their demos from the late sixties, I have heard their first four records and they do sound a bit like demos compared to their later albums though. The same goes for all my other favourites, after all demos are never as good as the more professionally recorded albums and such has been done more than once from Solitude Aeturnus so I still cannot figure out why they release such material.
Anyway, considering the sound is doom metal would not surprise anyone I just say that it is and it has the slow mourning guitar lines along with the priestly massing vocal work that is also obligatory in the genre, it sounds very much like Solitude Aeturnus or Candlemass to be honest. The sound of course is not particularly clean or polished, in fact the whole production sound very cheap and the drums in some parts do sound very strange for some reason and the levels of the different elements of the music varies a lot which gives the whole production a slightly incoherent sense to it which is added by the live and rehearsal room session bonus tracks that has been added as bonus. The album has nine tracks and goes on for fifty seven minutes which on paper at least, is long. It should be added that the tracks have been remastered for this release but I guess there is only so much that you can do. In short it sounds like a demo recording from 1988 done by a demo band.
The regular songs that I suppose has been recorded in some cheap studio are quite good to be honest, the have a good feel and some have already been reused on the band’s first album but they are let down by a rather nasty, cheap sound which there is just no way to get around. Once again the question about why start to appear and I cannot really get my head around why they would release this, it is not only worse than any of their albums, it is a hell of a lot worse than their albums, quite terrible in some parts to be fair. Some parts however are quite good but when we get to the rehearsal room stuff and the live stuff then things gets really awful. The sound of those songs are like they have been recorded from another room with a dictaphone of that era, it sounds like shit. And for no reason whatsoever can I understand why anyone would add such tracks to their albums, it is like those terrible bonus live tracks of the Seven Witches album, these tracks just leaves this aftertaste of some young band that has no self critique whatsoever, these three tracks belongs on a cassette that has been thrown into an active volcano on iceland several years ago and not on a brand spanking new CD from a respected doom metal outfit. In fact this whole release can for all I care have been thrown down the same volcano.
Still, the studio tracks are okay so it is not completely awful, mostly it is just unnecessary as the band has already done a lot better albums than this and the original may be a rare quantity that is valuable to a collector but the music is not really that valuable to anyone as it is not up to the band’s regular standard and it also begs to question wether or not the band is out of ideas for new and original material as they release some old crap. Maybe for the curious and the dedicated collector but not for fans of the band or genre and it will certainly not make any new fans for the band.
A decent but completely unnecessary album, if it should be made it should be given away for free and not sold. If you like doom metal, look to the left and select any of the albums from the band’s discography, they are all better choices, much better choices than this.
HHHHHHH
