STYLE: Hard Music RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 14187-12656 LABEL: Solid State TND60567 FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1 RELEASE DATE: 2005-08-01 RRP: £12.99
Reviewed by Jonathan Langley
The line between metal and hardcore becomes increasingly blurred with every Solid State release. This album, for instance, from 2005, when Haste The Day still featured Jimmy Ryan (before he was replaced by Stephen Keech), is a prime example. Certainly the sound is pared down from the solo-heavy excesses and symphonic pretensions of so much contemporary heavy metal, but the growl-scream vocals, common to both genres, here sound closer to black metal swords-and-sorcery goblinry than the no-frills aggression of hardcore. The guitars, too, straddle the chunky, muscular bursts of one and the biker-friendly flourishes of the other. Occasional moments of (admittedly fairly weak) clean vocals and singalong-friendly refrains put this release on the more contemporary side of the continuum, but also highlight a certain lack of originality in these 12 thrashy gallops through lyrics about angst, girls, temptation and Jesus' grace. You have heard all of this before and you have heard it more remarkably done.
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This is the last album Jimmy Ryan does with Haste The Day,
perhaps the end of a metal era. This album is the best Haste
The Day album and shows a band really in their prime. I dont
know what the other review is about, because this album is
awesome and they say its been done better, I personally have
not listened to something better in a long long time. If I
were to recommend one album to listen to for the rest of my
life it would be this!
This is the last album Jimmy Ryan does with Haste The Day, perhaps the end of a metal era. This album is the best Haste The Day album and shows a band really in their prime. I dont know what the other review is about, because this album is awesome and they say its been done better, I personally have not listened to something better in a long long time. If I were to recommend one album to listen to for the rest of my life it would be this!