Beyond The Embrace
Against The Elements
Metal Blade
Beyond The Embrace serves up a tasty dish of classic trash-influenced power metal, and they do it so well, in fact, that they were signed to Metal Blade on the basis of one single demo. There is nothing new on display here, but like, say, In Flames, they do it so convincingly that they manage to bring a contemporary edge to much of yesterdayÃs news, simply by the sheer force of their attack. There’s a fine Anthrax-vibe to the whole proceedings, even the conspiracy-theory politics remain intact, although Beyond The Embrace are far less multi-faceted than prime-time Anthrax. The musicianship is solid and hugely impressive, with lead guitarist Oscar Gouivea blasting through one furious riff after the other, and vocalist Shawn Gallagher easing his way into James Hetfield-mode at the drop of a hat.
While they got the chops, however, they haven’t always got the stash, and a few too many of the tracks fall on the wrong side of mediocre. There are some real highlights, mind, and this is definitely worth checking out for fans of old school power metal, but more time invested in songwriting could produce something more remarkable the next time around than what this one ultimately proves to be.
Metal Blade Records: http://www.metalblade.com
