 Northern Los Angeles rock ruffians follow up their 2007 EP with a full length album. John Fitterer (Vocals), Justin Manning (Guitars), Nic Miller (Bass), William Liermann (Drums). Justin was previously guitar tech for Zakk Wylde. Five of these tracks were originally released as an EP in 2007, following changes in band members and the addition in 2011 of Nic & William has finally allowed the full album to come to fruition. Don’t let your first listen to this be your only one, at first hearing it impact is not appreciated, but as you listen more, you discover parts that you did not notice at first and in this case, first impressions can change. I Spit on Your Curse is the opener, its chorus dominates the lyrics and is somewhat repetitive, not a song that has grown on me yet. Sex with a Ghost is most notable for its stunning guitar solo, worth listening to again. Most imaginative tune is Witch in the Window, creative rattlesnake sounds and unusual style. Get Under The Dirt is OK, but over 6 minutes of repeating one line does wear you down and I did find I switched off before the end, every time I listened.
The next song, Black Moon Shine seemed to consist of two halves, the first half was almost Alice Cooper in style and the second half the vocals switched from Alice to Chris Cornell and back again, vocally the most impressive track. Even at over 7 minutes it managed to retain my attention throughout. Shake the Bag confused me, I could not connect the title with the song, not a bad tune, just found myself trying to re-name it as We Will Fall or Last Dollar, Last Drink. I am the crime is another repetitive track, and far too long for my liking. Tombs of Oblivion is the best guitar track, and is slower and gives you more chance to appreciate the shredding skills on display here, unfortunately it is also too long and I lose interest resulting in not taking notice until As Above So Below is half way through, which is a shame as it has some interesting ideas in it. Vulture with a Rifle is not as good as its title suggests, sadly and no-where near as funny as the YouTube footage of a chimp with AK47, though its guitar solos are special.
The end track starts like the beginning of a classic Bon Jovi tune, which comes as a surprise, this is Prone to Destroy, it seems to travel through different phases with some delicious guitar licks along the way.
Overall, the vocals are a little too samey throughout for me, always guttural and other than a couple of tracks, choruses consist of repeating the title over and over again. Working on getting some killer choruses into songs would improve them considerably, as would shortening the songs, this is not prog, four minutes a song would be better. What saves this album and makes it worth another listen is the guitars, by far the saving grace. 6/10 |
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Crowned By Fire - Prone to Destroyposted 5 Oct 2011 09:56 by J McGowen [ updated 5 Oct 2011 09:57 ] |