Apoch's Metal Review - Messenger: See You in Hell CD Review

Discography	Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed.
Full-Length(s):	Titanic Suicide (1990) • Asylum X-T-C (1994) • Under the Sign (2006) • See You in Hell (2011)
EP(s):	Kill the DJ!! (2005)
Demo(s):	Feel the Fire (2003)

Review

Messenger is a German Heavy Metal act that formed back in 1990, but yet has not issued a lot of albums up to this point. In fact, since their 1990 self-released debut, Titanic Suicide, the group has only issued four albums, which includes the 2000 release Infected that you cannot find any information about at all on-line it seems. The group's official label debut was 2006's Under the Sign, coming sixteen years since the band formed, and it wound up flying under the radar of many Heavy Metal fans. Again, we find Messenger in a brighter spotlight of Massacre Records, but even on that flagship the group seems to be stuck in the realm of the unkown. See You in Hell follows up their official record label debut release, but does this original roots-driven group have what it takes to really stand out in today's Metal scene?

See You in Hell is an album that sticks petty close to the early NWOBHM sound, but also takes a more modern approach to the sound with some tracks actually tapering off into Power Metal territory, but only slightly. The audio here sticks with that modern sound, giving the tracks a bit of a sleeker sound that can sometimes also travel into what one might expect an eighties Glam Rock recording to sound through today's standards. "Falconlord" shows that with a strong Hard Rock attitude against a Heavy Metal song that feels a little like a restrained epic track. The guitars sound pretty common to the Heavy Metal style, feeling a little cleaner with a slight echo effect to them, being a little deeper in the mix to allow the bass to come through a little more, though it doesn't really have much to contribute at times other then following the guitar's and giving it a little extra kick. The drums here, however, are what really stand out. The cymbols sound decent with their volume level, and the snares sound tight and natural against some thick, bassey drum kicks that really work out for the music and make things a little richer given the not quite deep bass guitar presence. The vocals of the effort also sound like your traditional higher singing with attitude mixed with some falsettos, but also some occassional growling with digital alteration to give off a more intimidating, even demonic sounding presence at key moments on some tracks like the aforementioned "Falconlord." Basically if you have heard a traditional Heavy Metal album in the past twenty five, thirty years, you know what to expect, except tack on a bit of an attempted epic sound through a little Power Metal influence.

And that becomes the only real problem to See You in Hell. The band plays it so close to classic Heavy Metal without really doing much to set it apart from the many other bands of the style throughout the years that it doesn't really feel that impressive at this point. It's obvious Messenger tries to capture the spirit of "true" Heavy Metal that acts like Manowar are known to do thanks to trying to create some epic sounding material through building traditional Metal chords that seem watered down from earliewr NWOBHM acts like Iron Maiden, but in the end they feel a little more on the restrained side. This ends up being the fault of some later tracks like "Falconlord" and "The Dragonships" where the songs are catchy and have that slower epicness to them that is only diluted through simpler music that never genuinely builds up to that expectation, simply feeling safe in the tempo and musical level that it's performed at without going a bit too over-the-top to leave a great lasting impression on the listener. It's actually rather sad that the band doesn't capitalize off this given the material that these tracks present offering up such obvious potential to easily pull it off. This is even more frustrating given the already at the edge of epic sound of "Valkyries" that the band never seems to take full advantage of. Instead you're left sitting there at the edge of your seat waiting as the song continuously goes to the edge of hitting that epic note, having the listener brace for the dramatic rush of Metal necessarily to call it a success, but only back off and never cross that line.

But, for the most part, Messenger try to use some faster material, typically in a mid-pace range instead of that slower epic attempting approach. This is how the album starts, though "Flames of Revenge" does set a different tone with it's slower epic build for an introduction that bleeds into "See You in Hell." The song has a faster pace with some random melodic chords thrown in at times, and while the song is great and can even feel a bit on the Folk Metal side with some chords, and even show a fantastic vocal performance at times like the second main verse, the chorus here feels like a major let down thanks to it's far more restrained vocal approach, as well as the music that has the potential to come through as epic, working together to come off a bnit restrained and on the safe side. But, even with that said, the song itself is still good, especially when the band really brings in that extra energy to the performance. This about sums up the rest of the band's material that doesn't try to do the slow paced epic build approach, but "Make it Right" follows and gives off a rather early break from it all. The song has more energy to it, being mostly a falsetto performance against some really fun Heavy Metal with a Hard Rock foundation and even attitude, especially in the chorus. The guitar solo here is far better then most of the other songs here, and doesn't really feel like it's following the basic blueprints of a Heavy Metal song, really causing it to stand out, but not until the second time through when you can really appreciate the fact that it clearly shows the band having fun instead of just trying to create a traditional yet serious early Metal album.

Sadly, it's at the point of "Alien Autopsy" that the album does start to lose some of that energy and just becomes basic, yet still well done Heavy Metal. With this track, you can appreciate the band trying to do something a little special with it despite it's generic sound by using more deeper vocals that do seem a bit altered. But despite that some of the songs don't really offer much as far as a unique experience goes, it's clear Messenger are doing their best to do what they clearly love musically, and it does give us some catchy material either way, even after this point. "Final Thunder" makes for a generally catchy track, and "Dr Stein" actually has a good amount of energy to it similar to "See You in Hell," and makes for a solid closing song for the release.

See You in Hell is not a bad CD, but it's like the band pretty much followed the book of Heavy Metal from start to finish with this one. Messenger does a good job at writing some good songs here, but when they have a little more energy and don't stick to the fundamental structure and sound of the style is when the material is far more enjoyable. Outside a few songs, See You in Hell ends up being one of the most basic Heavy Metal albums you can find this year. While their devotion to the traditional Heavy Metal sound is clearly on this release, and each song here is handled with care since nothing feels at all like filler material, it's safe to say this band has a good grasp on what they want to do, and are just playing it safe. This is fine, but in the end the album feels held back, making it a little more frustrating given the unrecognized potential. But, if that's the only complaint for an album that goes into the over one hour territory, you definitely need to give the band some credit for that.

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	Digital review copy of this release provided by: Massacre Records.

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