Savage Messiah - Plague Of Conscience review
| Band: | Savage Messiah |
| Album: | Plague Of Conscience |
| Style: | Heavy metal, Thrash metal |
| Release date: | January 20, 2012 |
| Guest review by: | Zap |
01. Plague Of Conscience
02. Six Feet Under The Gun
03. Carnival Of Souls
04. In Thought Alone
05. All Seeing I
06. Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt
07. Architects Of Fear
08. The Accuser
09. Shadowbound
10. The Mask Of Anarchy
While thrash metal has always been a very enjoyable subgenre of metal, revivalist bands have been so boring over the past few years that the genre has had very few new things to offer. Count in Savage Messiah, because Plague Of Conscience fails to offer something original.
When it comes to a description of what the album sounds like, we can be very simple: imagine a combination of Testament and *insert other legendary thrash metal band* with a touch of power metal. Savage Messiah does what almost every thrash band does that has been formed in the last decade: they make music that reaches back to the old days of thrash, copying the style of a certain band or blending the sound of multiple bands. They specifically try to make thrash metal, instead of just writing the music that comes from their hearts, while not paying attention to what genre it will be categorised in.
Although this is a fairly traditional album, it can be very enjoyable if you don't mind the lack of creativity. The opening track, for example, is solid and quite catchy, even though it's all downhill from there. The performance on this album is Savage Messiah's biggest asset. Not only is the instrumentation well-performed, the vocals are excellent and play a significant role. Making use of clean vocals in thrash metal is almost always a risk, but in this case it simply works. Because of the slight touch of power metal, which is most noticeable in the guitar leads, these vocals work perfectly well with the music.
Overall Plague Of Conscience does not offer anything new or exciting, but it is a solid, standard thrash album that serves its purpose for anyone looking for a common thrash metal album. In short, there's nothing new under the sun.
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
7.1
7.1
|
Rating: 7.1 |
In a world where thrash metal seems to be steadily leaning more and more to the harsher side of things (Warbringer, Toxic Holocaust, Skeletonwitch, etc) it's pretty nice to hear a more melodic step-back. Granted, this isn't an extremely vicious album, but who cares? It seems it's becoming just too easy to write steam-rolling thrash. Some times, it's just nice to hear thrash that can just...soar. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 6
Visited by: 38 users
| Zap Posts: 3583  |
This is my first review, so to anyone who read it: please give me some feedback, I'd very much appreciate it  Thank you. Also, you can bash the crap out of it as long as you make valid arguments why.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
I think you nailed the hammer on the head. You described the sound accurately, you backed up your opinion, and you point out the flaws of trying too hard to make music as opposed to just writing from within. Even if they did write from their hearts, they don't do much to prove it with such a meandering, stale attempt at reproducing something that has been done much better decades ago. I only disagree with you calling it solid at the end but giving it a 6. It's a bit conflicting - I'd prefer to see solid with a 7 or a 6 with decent (or something a little more harsh).
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573  |
You get across the point about originality and copycatting and describe what to expect from the sound well in the review. I don't know about "the coming coming from the heart," but as I said elsewhere, statements like these are very bold. Actually, this album is not so "let's rip the hell of the Big Four," so these guys do seem to have souls. They combine quite a lot of genres here, so this quite possibly comes from the hearts (and minds). My thoughts on the album (after one listen): Very plain production, artificially-sounding "symphonic" effects a la Children of Bodom, kind of corny and safe overall. It is hard to really call this thrash, too: more like the last two offerings by Artillery. I have to say I don't like the vocals; it is true that clean vocals and thrash don't cross ways very often, but these just sound too soft. However, again, I don't think we should really be looking at this band as a thrash outfit. They definitely have a lot of Nevermore feel to them, but the power metal side of their the music (also in the vocals on some songs) is definitely big and is something that turns me off. The album overall is not terrible: there are some good ideas and songs ("The Accuser" being one of them). The performance is indeed quite good (as you mentioned).
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Zap Posts: 3583 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 16.03.2012 at 15:16 Well English is not my first language, so I admit my choice of words might have been a bit poor there. What I really meant with solid is that it is certainly not bad, but you can't expect something "more" of it. It is what it is and it has been done before. Also I meant that you might not like it, might even be extremely bored by it, but it is still listenable, you don't want to turn it off every second while listening it. And for someone who enjoys well-performed thrash it is a good choice for an album to buy. Anyways, thanks for the feedback, it's nice to have a positive comment from you (I read most of your reviews and I enjoy them very much ).
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| Zap Posts: 3583 |
Written by K✞ulu on 16.03.2012 at 16:33 While this is true, there are a LOT of moments where I feel like they're just copying something I have already heard, it might not always be the Big Four, but it definitely reaches back to the 80's a lot. Written by K✞ulu on 16.03.2012 at 16:33 Well, discussions about vocals can go very deep. Overall I must say I enjoyed the vocals more than most of the instrumentation, but it's very opinion-based. Written by K✞ulu on 16.03.2012 at 16:33 I think it's a matter of how much you like power metal and what you see as a power metal element or thrash metal element. This determines how big you think the power metal side of their music is. Anyways, thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated!
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62030  |
Ktulu how can you compare whit CoB this band sis much better musically as CoB ever will be
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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