Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'burden of truth'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Go Here First
    • READ THE RULES
    • Introduce Yourself
  • General
    • Questions & Answers
    • General Chat
    • VS. Forum
    • Album Reviews
    • Deep and Meaningful
    • Metal Festivals
    • Off Topic
  • Metal Sub-genres
    • Gothic Metal
    • Groove Metal
    • Industrial Metal
    • Progressive Metal
    • Heavy / Traditional Metal
    • New Wave of British Heavy Metal
    • Doom Metal
    • Black Metal
    • Nu-Metal
    • Power Metal
    • Stoner Metal
    • Folk Metal
    • Death Metal
    • Thrash Metal
    • More Sub-Genres
  • Bands Heavy Metal
    • Metal Legends
    • Looking For Band Member
    • Looking For A Band!
    • Promote Yourself
  • Metal Instruments
    • Vocals Talk
    • Lyrical Discussion
    • Drum Talk
    • Guitar Talk
    • Bass Talk
    • Other Instruments
  • Misc
    • Forum Games
    • Mosh Pit!
    • Best Metal Quotes
    • Best Metal YouTube
    • Best Metal Artwork
    • Metal Photography
    • Hobbies
    • Other Music Talk
    • News From Around The Web
    • Announcements / News
    • Improve Your Forum

Blogs

  • News
  • Best of 2018
  • Finnish Black Metal
  • The Fallen
  • Moderator Chat
  • SECRET SLASHER: A Special Samhain Suppurating Slaughterhouse Sewer Sampler Swap
  • Timelines
  • Album Reviews
  • The "How Old Do I Feel Now?" Section

Calendars

There are no results to display.


Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


AIM


MSN


Website URL


ICQ


Yahoo


Jabber


Skype


Location


Interests


Biography


Location


Interests


Occupation

Found 1 result

  1. I invite you to come with me to a time before 2008. It may surprise you to learn that at this point, Circle II Circle was actually a pretty damn good band. They did eventually become prog Godsmack, as history will record with bitter regret chronicling the storied tale of Savatage. For now, however, let’s make like boomers and complain about how things used to be better. Burden of Truth sounds like sentimentalism, at times. It feels rather like Skid Row filtered through Phantom of the Opera, in that characteristically Trans-Siberian Orchestra fashion. The difference, though, is that Circle II Circle crank the technicality and bite of their music significantly higher than TSO’s comfortable bombast. It’s certainly a little saccharine, but performed with such conviction and talent as to make that nearly irrelevant. Zak Stevens’ voice is vital to this whole undertaking. His overbored bass resonates unstoppably through every song, an unmistakably mature vocal delivery that dignifies even the album’s most banal emotional turns (“How can we learn to live as one…” “I walked by the church and saw the children, and the world through their eyes…”). Moreover, it is very identifiably American, and that’s the biggest selling point of this album. It’s worth noting he layers very nicely with his backing vocalists. The “The Black” and title track have particularly good harmonizing. One might be tempted to snicker at some of these lyrics and the melodies. How antiquated the notion of melodic music without dizzying rhythmic changes or production magic out the ass. Yet, the sheer power behind it all is impossible to deny. The piano line on “Heal Me” would be insufferable if it didn’t drag you in immediately. Despite the sugar content, Burden of Truth is largely fat-free. It doesn’t fall victim to most metal tropes, including the prevalence of vibrato. It’s endearing too, in a sort of Andie McDowell in Five Weddings and a Funeral kind of way, or perhaps of Joy Davidson in Shadowlands – very American. The opening to Revelations? Badass. The crunchy riffs of A Matter of Time? Some slick shit. The entirety of Evermore? One of the most masterfully tight, pointed pieces of prog metal out there that still pounds away at the ears like a cannon blast. If you wanted an aspirational American soundtrack, this is it. Songs for an endearing everyman with more behind his ears than you might guess.
×
×
  • Create New...