Serial Thriller Vol.IIVarious Artists |
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"Serial Thriller Vol.II" is a short compilation CD of eight songs, from a variety of Metal bands. Although very short, it has a good range of songs suited to all genres of Metal. Track List 1) Sundown - "Lifetime" from "Glimmer" album The initial singing is a distorted sound, like singing through a comb and tissue paper, but also gets very melodic in places. There is a good variety of drumming throughout but the guitar sound rarely changes. The whole song was very similar and the sound does not broaden scope of that heard in the first quarter. The whole song has a slight industrial overtone throughout. 2) Merauder - "We Are The Ones" from "Five Deadly Venoms" album This one starts with a deep, grungy, heavy guitar sound, with drums to match. Singing is heavy and powerful and has a very heavy throaty sound. This matches the intensity of the music very well. 3) Sick Of It All - "Injustice System" from "Blood, Sweat, And No Tears" album This song, although heavy, lacks much depth. The guitar sound is heavy but not deep enough and does not emit the power that most Metal has. The singing was partially done by the whole band at once, which gave a very punky sound. When the lead singer did sing on his own he didn't have much tune - it was as if he was saying words in time to music by starting each word at a high note then finishing on a low note (like Obituary but without the roaring power) - the last words of each line were long and drawn out in the same key. At the very end of the song (a whopping 2 mins 18 seconds into it) a man's voice said 'See yah'. Perhaps this should be at the end of a rap song not a metal song!! 4) Skinlab - "Know Your Enemies" from "DISEMBODY:The New Flesh" album This song went straight into heavy guitars and drums. Within seconds this was joined by powerful heavy vocals to back them up. I think the heaviness is amplified by the lack of power in the previous song. It has an intense, similar sound throughout with a few variances but constantly maintained the heaviness. 5) Hassmütz - "In meinem Kopf" from "Tausend Echte Feinde" Yes - this song is sung in German. It starts with a deep, fast base line and drumming. The lead guitar at this point is quite then suddenly jumps in with a heavy pounding sound. Everything quietens down for the lyrics which are initially faint, but then get louder. The chorus re-introduces the heavy pounding sound that the song started off with. Great sounds from this one. 6) Lachuna - "Circle" from "In A reverie" album The most striking thing about this song is the presence of a female vocalist that sounds good in a metal song! Not many female vocalists manage to fit in with the style of music they sing for, but this is an exception. It is not a particularly heavy song and is probably better classified as Heavy Pop, not Heavy Metal. It think that this is a great song and it provides a nice break from the harshness of the rest of the album. 7) Nocturnal Rites - "The Iron Force" from "The Sacred Talisman" album This song has a very 80's glam rock sound and reminded me of my early rock days. It has a similar sound to other songs like 'The Eye Of Tiger' and 'St. Elmo's Fire'. It has the same semi-heavy guitar sound, that most Glam-Metal has, and powerful, but not heavy vocals. 8) Agent Steel - "Agents Of Steel" from "Skeptics Apocalypse" album This song sounds very dated as it has a typical thrash sound. The singer sounds just like Anthrax's first singer, on 'Fistful Of Metal' and is a bit screechy in places. It doesn't get any thrashier than this! This CD is released
by Century Media Records. Review by Mark Everest |