Reverence
Gods of War
Razar Ice Records
2015
Reverence is a pretty cool little band that benefits tremendously from having amongst its ranks none other than Jack Starr’s and Riot V’s Todd Michael Hall, a guy that does this on the side as a bit of fun, but does it so well that he dwarves most of the so called metal vocalists out there, but a few…
With the European power and traditional metal scenes being mostly occupied by gimmicky bands that overdo orchestrations and layering or go for a very basic so called “underground” approach that sometimes works and sometimes “exposes” the bands, some American styled melodic power traditional metal, such as what Reverence delivers on their second platter, feels just like what the “crazy doctor” prescribed…
“Gods of War” opens with the eponymous song, a muscular mid-tempo with a great melody a groovy chorus and Todd, signaling the annihilation…
“Heart of Gold” is a tad faster and maintains the melody, sounding really cool without sounding retro. Also while in Riot, Todd has to try and to sort of mildly “channel” a bit of all the previous vocalists in his performances, while not losing his identity, in the other bands, while his timbre remains similar, it’s 100% him. A singer that back in the day should have made a name for him…
“Until My Dying Breath” is a lot more contemporary and grooves, but doesn’t lose its classic touch…
“Angel in Black” tries to build a mysterious atmosphere, in the verses that tend to last around a minute each and while it runs into the danger of ending up underwhelming the listener, thankfully that is avoided once its marvelous chorus hits home.
Something that unfortunately “Tear Down the Mountain” doesn’t manage to replicate with its chorus being rather uneventful. It’s solo is nice, but overall it’s a little less appealing than the rest of the songs up to it.
Likewise “Blood of Heroes” while driven by a tasty riff doesn’t really manage to really tell itself apart from the rest, all mid-tempo and with a chorus sounding like an extended bridge rather than a proper chorus...
“Battle Cry” comes down hard and fast, trying to rectify the problems in pacing and it manages to do so to a large degree, TMH attempts a slightly different style of delivery here that makes him sound very high pitched but also quite thinner than usually, but while it takes a bit of getting used to it’s not bad, just a bit different. (I must say it reminded me of Lizzy Borden on acid, a fair bit).
“Choices Made” manages to tastefully combine the melodic guitars in its mid-tempo haze with some nice vocal melodies and a ripping solo and to leave its mark… good choice!
“Splitter” tries to be a semi-ballad, but it is a bit too electric to properly work with the vocals it has, somewhat burring them under the guitars, despite them being double tracked, I believe a more acoustic version with an electric solo might have worked a little better. Still it’s a pretty good tune.
“Cleansed by Fire” has an amazing bridge that leads to a simple chorus, but that isn’t marring the overall appeal of the song, which remains quite high.
Last but not least, “Race to Obscene” opens with a scorching lead, getting all the celebs that “sell just flesh” in the cross-hairs of its mid-tempo bludgeoning…
The Japanese version has another song, the rather unspectacular mid-tempo “Kick the Dog”.
Reverence have proven themselves to be one of the up and coming names in American Metal, (the sort of stuff, that is actually metal and not an aggressive concoction of various elements that hardly complement each other well). While a little less impressive than the band’s debut, “When Darkness Call”, it sounds more mature and would be definitely recommended to fans of the band and whatever sort of 80s heavy metal with American roots you could think of.
With the European power and traditional metal scenes being mostly occupied by gimmicky bands that overdo orchestrations and layering or go for a very basic so called “underground” approach that sometimes works and sometimes “exposes” the bands, some American styled melodic power traditional metal, such as what Reverence delivers on their second platter, feels just like what the “crazy doctor” prescribed…
“Gods of War” opens with the eponymous song, a muscular mid-tempo with a great melody a groovy chorus and Todd, signaling the annihilation…
“Heart of Gold” is a tad faster and maintains the melody, sounding really cool without sounding retro. Also while in Riot, Todd has to try and to sort of mildly “channel” a bit of all the previous vocalists in his performances, while not losing his identity, in the other bands, while his timbre remains similar, it’s 100% him. A singer that back in the day should have made a name for him…
“Until My Dying Breath” is a lot more contemporary and grooves, but doesn’t lose its classic touch…
“Angel in Black” tries to build a mysterious atmosphere, in the verses that tend to last around a minute each and while it runs into the danger of ending up underwhelming the listener, thankfully that is avoided once its marvelous chorus hits home.
Something that unfortunately “Tear Down the Mountain” doesn’t manage to replicate with its chorus being rather uneventful. It’s solo is nice, but overall it’s a little less appealing than the rest of the songs up to it.
Likewise “Blood of Heroes” while driven by a tasty riff doesn’t really manage to really tell itself apart from the rest, all mid-tempo and with a chorus sounding like an extended bridge rather than a proper chorus...
“Battle Cry” comes down hard and fast, trying to rectify the problems in pacing and it manages to do so to a large degree, TMH attempts a slightly different style of delivery here that makes him sound very high pitched but also quite thinner than usually, but while it takes a bit of getting used to it’s not bad, just a bit different. (I must say it reminded me of Lizzy Borden on acid, a fair bit).
“Choices Made” manages to tastefully combine the melodic guitars in its mid-tempo haze with some nice vocal melodies and a ripping solo and to leave its mark… good choice!
“Splitter” tries to be a semi-ballad, but it is a bit too electric to properly work with the vocals it has, somewhat burring them under the guitars, despite them being double tracked, I believe a more acoustic version with an electric solo might have worked a little better. Still it’s a pretty good tune.
“Cleansed by Fire” has an amazing bridge that leads to a simple chorus, but that isn’t marring the overall appeal of the song, which remains quite high.
Last but not least, “Race to Obscene” opens with a scorching lead, getting all the celebs that “sell just flesh” in the cross-hairs of its mid-tempo bludgeoning…
The Japanese version has another song, the rather unspectacular mid-tempo “Kick the Dog”.
Reverence have proven themselves to be one of the up and coming names in American Metal, (the sort of stuff, that is actually metal and not an aggressive concoction of various elements that hardly complement each other well). While a little less impressive than the band’s debut, “When Darkness Call”, it sounds more mature and would be definitely recommended to fans of the band and whatever sort of 80s heavy metal with American roots you could think of.