Review by Felix on June 3, 2020.

I beg your pardon, but I have a serious question before I can start with the review: Will I live to see the distant day when kitschy artworks finally die? I fear I will be reduced to ash before the sun will rise on this day. Either way, the baby blue artwork (and now we are at the beginning of the review) is among the smaller problems that I have with Risen Prophecy’s third full-length. Really annoying are the vocals of Dan Tyrens. Maybe he is a good car mechanic, an outstanding administrative officer or a brilliant connoisseur of the British fauna and flora, but his kind of singing sucks. He kisses every word which leaves his mouth, always aware of its overwhelming importance. His idol is probably Hell’s David Bower, but he does not reach his class. Instead, his theatrical style lowers the quality of the songs significantly. 'The Tower of Shinar', for instance, holds some intense parts with speedy and sharp guitars that upgrade the entire song, but Dan disturbs the good performance of the instrumentalists with great enthusiasm and big success.

But don’t think that the dude behind the mic is the only disruptive factor here. Unfortunately, the songwriters of Risen Prophecy also haven’t done a flawless job. Some sections are going nowhere, not to mention tracks such as 'The Eye of Hades'. Is this a chorus or an accident? What I certainly know is that it’s a tragedy, because so many defects and their weakness for kitschy sequences veil the strengths of the band. Some good riffs form auspicious parts and if the surely ambitious quartet would be able to identify its pompous ballast and throw it overboard, we would probably have a completely different situation. Instead, they offer an overburdened semi-ballad like 'The Ancient Curse', useless intermezzos and overlong pieces which lack clear direction.

I have already mentioned Hell and they are a stylistic point of reference, not only in terms of the vocals. This means that Risen Prophecy’s work commutes between speed or occasionally even thrash metal and traditional heavy sounds. This is an actually interesting combination, but the musical mix alone cannot ensure a fascinating full-length. The dudes from England are definitely no amateurs, they offer a couple of good ideas and the production scores with transparent heaviness. Nevertheless, too many shortcomings prevent a good rating. The opulent closer with a length of more than ten minutes reflects the dilemma of the entire album: a good start, but after some minutes the song derails silently and everything is going down the drain. Only Tyrens sings as if nothing has happened.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Review by JD on February 2, 2012.

Metalcore and its sister style Nu-Metal are genres that I like to a point, but sometimes I hate because of blatant imitators who just copy and never tries to do things differently. What I look for is an original tilt that stretches the boundaries of the style just a little further out with each note that is blasted out. I guess that is what I look for in any band, but this genre I seem to look a little closer than normal, because of the way it is in the first place.

Austrian based Xenesthis (a type of Tarantula) is one of the acts that has fully explored the whole Metalcore/Nu-Metal thing, and has changed it up into there own image. Sounding like a cross between Avenged Sevenfold and Disturbed with heavier riffing and it is a perfect blending of the music end with some clean and very powerful vocals of Alecto. A young woman with and incredibly strong vocals that parts the music.

There are pretty good riffs going on through out the entire CD, just listening to the Disturbed inspired 'Fool' or the limitless attack of 'Raised Fist Armed' and you will see just that. They are not as complex musically like a Dragonforce or Dream Theatre are with the arrangements and shredding power. As a musician myself, I need to say that a good and memorable melody beats out any technical prowess.

Noticeable recording glitches along with the main glaring mistake with just how the mixing was done on Miss Alecto’s vocals make a very good album end up being more average than anything. Perhaps when they record the next album, they will clear these hurdles and show just how great of a band they are but for now, this is one album to listen to despite some small problems.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 6.5
Originality: 8
Overall: 8

Rating: 7.5 out of 10