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Theater of War Jacobs Dream |
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Nine songs and a lifetime's worth of "thank you's," Jacob departs for his latest trip beyond reality and into the bowels of metallic wanderlust… far-fetched? Okay we'll simplify things, how about a trip back say fifteen years ago, when all was well, Metal was the mighty sword that still swung valiantly, reality bowed to fantasy, power came from within, and Jacobs Dream was only perhaps an inch worth of after thought… "Theater of War" is an ode to the almighty riff, a hammer slamming down proclaiming that order shall once again be restored in the lost and downtrodden lot that once shone the gold paved kingdom… Jacobs' second release proves equally valiant as their storming self-titled debut-the fire, the fury, Helstar-revisited, or the early age of Metal Blade's Power Metal supremacy as a whole-one need only look back on their past catalog where countless numbers swarmed on the scene, some to shine for all eternity, others to wither away in the exceedingly dense fog that became the heavy music scene… But Jacob Dreams on and finds "Sanctuary" in this "Theater of War," and if we watch closely and listen clearly, the echoes of a long lost generation can still be heard faintly in the distance. It's not completely out of the question to compare Jacobs Dream to the earliest of Queensryche, for those still willing to acknowledge they even had a past, and a lifetime ago, or so it seems, this was nearly them… Fates Warning to a lesser degree, the music not quite as intricate or disheveled as they who have since fallen into an abyss of mediocrity… but this was and is again what it's all about-letting the power of the chord roar through all else… the screeching mid-range vocal disperses the smoke-filled air and in perfect clarity, an impossibility two albums in a decade and a half ago, we get a certain glimpse toward what might have been and what shall live on in the form of those who still carry the torch.
Released by Metal
Blade Records GmbH, P.O. Box 1332, 73054 Eislingen, Germany. Review by Vinnie Apicella
[va85@columbia.edu] |