01.My Heart Bleeds
02.Defiance
03.The Guide
04.What About Me
05.Fall Away
06.Not In My Name
07.Wayside
08.I Wanna Kill
09.Monster
10.Swallowed My Life
11.Greatest Weapon
Johanne James (Drums/Vocals)
Ben Glover (Guitar)
Dave Lugay (Bass)
Dave Dart (Guitar : My Heart Bleeds)
Melodie Gonnard (Vocal : Greatest Weapon)
I Should start this review by stating that i have certain reservations about much of the lyrical content.The lyrics are quite brilliant, well thought out and in many cases thought provoking, however i do have a problem with what appears to be a quite dominate christian theme this is notable in songs like 'The Guide' sure it has the line "For vacuous religions violate my peace" but it also implies that christianity is the right way with the line "Im the one to guide you, the light beyond will set you free".
Now 'Not In My Name' has a good theme about the morons who fight wars in the name of religion,and rightly condemns it, yet how easy is it to forget the sickest song ever written 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.
There are other examples as well but i'll not continue the theme.
Many of the other songs seem to deal with personal pain, confusion and suffering from illness, all in all a much more intelligent approach than the ususal sex, drugs and rock n roll.
Now to the music itself, listed on the cd as file under "Heavy Metal", well dont file under "Classic Rock" for thats where this belongs.
The quality of musicianship here is first class and given the fact that it is driven By Johanne who is perhaps better known to many of you as the drummer from prog rockers Threshold, though you would have heard him on countless other songs from some surprising artists over the years as he is also a top session drummer as well.
His rhythms bind the songs whilst his vocals cut through the mix to soothe the ears even when the song itself is aggressive.'My Heart Bleeds' is a slow moody rocker that has a great powerchord holding the song together and some great soloing from Dave, the same is true of 'What About Me', 'Monster (With a touch of black sabbath doom influence) and 'Greatest Weapon'.'Fall Away' is the heaviest track on the album, with the drums and bass thumping through the speakers (Well mine were at the volume i was playing it at), its a real headbanging classic!
Since this album was released Ben has been replaced by Aaron Waddingham and Dave by Alberto Flaibani, this line up is about to undertake new recordings and a mjor tour is in the pipeline.
The band are awesome live!
Rating 8/10
For fans Of : Living Colour, P.O.D, Skunk Anansie, Bloodgood, Whitecross.
STU
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