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Dungeon (Aus): A Rise To Power Power Metal Limb Music Products/SPV Records August 1st, 2002
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Review
The Australian power metal band Dungeon have released their second full length studio album. It seems lately a lot of bands in this style have started to sound the same. Given Dungeon's previous album, will A Rise To Power deliver for the starved masses? The simple answer is yes. The music on this release is exactly what power metal is meant to be: Heavy and powerful. While many bands seem to sound very similar anymore, the songs on this album change up with every song. A prime example of this is when you listen to the title track, as well as "Netherlife (Black Roses Die)", you wouldn't expect the sudden twist at the end with the track "Traumatised", which is a flat out technical thrash song with rhaspy screaming vocals. And we cannot forgot "Life Is Black", which is an instrumental is basically just one long killer guitar solo. Whether this and the following introductory track "The Birth: The Trauma Begins" are supposed to have something to do with "Traumatised" is unclear, but it sounds like they might. Aside that example, pretty much everything else stays within the sound established on the start of the album. The music is catchy at times, and on some tracks, such as the catchy as hell "Insanity's Fall", which may remind some of bands like Symphony X or even Rhapsody minus the symphonic aspect, the music is simply blistering. But, there lies the major issue with this album. Even though the music is balls to the wall furious, the problem is that the vocals don't work well with the music most of the time. Granted it sounds great in the slower track "The Other Side", even on "Traumatised", but much of the songs, like "A Rise To Power" and "Insanity's Fall", would be complimented so much better with a harsher singing style then a vocalist that sounds like he stepped out of a Hammerfall tribute band. The track "Stormchaser" benefits from the clean singing, but this is perhaps the weakest song on the album, aside the guitar solo, and even that's a bit bland. With all that said, this album is a great power metal record that metal heads need to hear if they're tired of hearing the same stuff over and over. The fact that the music changes up without losing the sound the band starts the album off with, with the obvious exception of "Traumatised", which is the best track off the album ironically. Perhaps is Dungeon were to change directions and make their next album thrash, they could pump out one hell of an amazing, and important, metal album. Until then, A Rise To Power is a balls out metal album that is well worth your time.
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