With members rising from the ashes of musical endeavors, both positive and negative,
Tears of Anger resurrect themselves back into action straight from the minds of metal veterans, brothers Benny and Bjorn Jansson. Having an extended hiatus period, from the beginnings in the early nineties then to reform with drummer Daniel Flores and his Mind's
Eye bandmate Johan Nieman offering a dark record of melodic metal filled with catchy
AOR hooks and the musicianship to match.
High points include the crunch driven
"Moment of Truth," the thick groove ridden riffs of
"Still Alive," "Afraid of the Dark," complete with an anthem chorus, the straight ahead metal opus
"Watch me Burn" yet even more crunch, with and
"Who I Am," which leans upon the occasional progressive pasture in the chorus, mixing that with pop harmonies.
The albums straight ahead metal vibe (filled with the strengths of their songwriting that creates the melodic factor for Still Alive), occasional dark factor (without the gloominess or doom elements) within the eleven cuts, occasional synth pads providing complimenting that dark vibe, and the tight chops and production that keep all the elements for their brand of melodic metal in tow; being both groove and riff driven at times, keeping a balance for both the playing and song structures, creating a more down-to-earth record, without going into far into progressive areas, but all kidding aside, they could do it if they wanted to, and very well most likely.
To sum it up, the disc is one solid record, with the elements of the member's rich musical past present, Still Alive will be "Alive" in my CD player for a while.
Written by
Hashman Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Show all reviews by HashmanRatingsHashman: 7/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
This article has been shown 2673 times. Go to the
complete list.
