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October 8, 2008 |
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By Wade O'Neill
September 27, 2005
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01. We Rocked
02. Ready To Roar
03. Love Will Make You Bleed
04. Hold On The Night
05. Burying Heather
06. Hell Hounds On My Trail
07. Aurelia's Night
08. Alone, Unknown And On My Own
09. Zenith
10. Ready To Roar (Instrumental)
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If you're going to call your band METAL MAJESTY, you'd better deliver a metal project, something that's hard-hitting and epic, like MANOWAR did in their loincloth-wearing prime. Unfortunately, this group should have named themselves PROG-ROCK MAJESTY, or perhaps more fittingly NYQUILL: THE BAND." And if you're going to name your album "2005", it had better stand proud amongst the best discs that the year has to offer. Ironically, METAL MAJESTY'S "2005" is one of the most tired and dated records of recent memory.
The album opens with "We Rocked", and the song begs a few immediate questions: "When did you rock?", "On what album?", and "Why didn't you send that album instead?" The track's whiny backing vocals provide a taste of the second rate QUEEN-harmonies that pervade the rest of the disc. I am not a QUEEN fan, but at least I respect the band. I respect them enough NOT to pay tribute through cheap imitation. Backing vocals are so overused these days, they have become boring (if you want to hear backing vocals done right, check out SINERGY's "Lead Us To War").
Valensia, the vocalist, has a competent rock edge to his voice, and he can sound like a poor man's Freddie Mercury at times, but aside from that, he does not have much going for him. There are some good guitar solos as well, and decent prog-rock riffs. I'm not saying the guitar player, whoever he is, isn't talented, but there are so many good guitarists out there, and they are all out there competing for my money. The production is lifeless, and in that sense, you could say that it fits the music.
All the memorable moments on the disc are memorable for the wrong reasons. Take track 5, "Burying Heather", for example. Its pseudo-symphonic bounce filled my head with images of pixies and clowns jumping rope. METAL MAJESTY is not metal, any more than the BARENAKED LADIES are actually naked ladies. If either band did a better job of living up to its name, I would find them a lot more interesting. Fans of QUEEN and DEF LEPPARD might find something of value in "2005". Everyone else: you can continue forgetting that this band exists.
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