Band:	Charred Walls Of The Damned
Album:	Creatures Watching Over The Dead
Style:	US power metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	September 23, 2016
A review by:	ScreamingSteelUS

01. My Eyes
02. The Soulless
03. Afterlife
04. As I Catch My Breath
05. Lies
06. Reach Into The Light
07. Tear Me Down
08. Living In The Shadow Of Yesterday
09. Time Has Passed

I was *this* close to binning Creatures Watching Over The Dead. I could never really crack open Cold Winds On Timeless Days, and after five years of trying, I've determined that it's because there is nothing to "get" about that album. When I found Creatures Watching Over The Dead similarly difficult to dive into at first listen, I assumed that it was also devoid of deeper value; after multiple sessions, however, it seems that Charred Walls Of The Damned has actually succeeded in releasing an album that challenges the listener to do more than simply wait until the boredom ends.

20 years after his global debut with Judas Priest, Ripper Owens still sounds powerful and lean - definitely older, but very much in command of his recognizable sky-piercing screams. Richard Christy and Steve DiGiorgio make for one of the best rhythm sections ever seen in metal, and Jason Suecof has proven himself more than capable of holding his own as a guitarist against his titanic bandmates. Despite the presence of such overwhelming musical acumen, I do not believe that Charred Walls Of The Damned has ever really lived up to its potential. All three albums now have played host to a handful of devastating instrumental combos and big, epic screeches that make the discography worth owning, but for the most part, it seems that Charred Walls Of The Damned is fated to produce lukewarm blandscapes populated by quotidian riffs and the relics of pre-owned melodies. The self-titled debut at least had a couple of standouts, but the second half of the album through to the end of the band's sophomore release runs together, and with the pedigree these members have, a "good, not great" album feels like a much bigger disappointment than it should.

I had expected the same ennui upon engaging with Creatures Watching Over The Dead, and whipsawed by my disappointment at the band's consistent wasting of potential and discouraged by my failure to immediately detect something memorable about this album, I was ready to dismiss it. Having now learned to listen to the album the band released and not the album I thought I was getting, I have noticed that the songwriting has taken a big step up this time around. Creatures Watching Over The Dead has multiple songs ("The Soulless," "Reach Into The Light," "As I Catch My Breath," "Afterlife") that have kept me coming back to the album even after I decided there was nothing worthwhile about it, and ultimately changed my mind after sufficient consideration. Perhaps the ultimate truth of Charred Walls Of The Damned is that it comes off wholly unremarkable at first listen but becomes more endearing the more you listen. Who knows? Perhaps with this in mind I'll even manage to give Cold Winds On Timeless Days another shot.

Even with better songs in tow, the band has been shackled to this flimsy, forgettable sound for three albums now and cannot seem to shake the sense of dispassionate boredom that enervates some potentially kinetic material; there's still room for improvement, and only so much of that can come from my changing tastes and perceptions. After several sessions with Creatures Watching Over The Dead and revisiting the first two albums, I still have to fight my initial disappointment over the band's unfulfilled potential in order to appreciate this album - and I do think the album is worth paying attention to, but it's definitely little more than a hastily-written, beautifully-performed heavy/power/thrash album the likes of which show up not too infrequently.