Customer Reviews

Breathe Deep the Dark

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Old fashioned" power metal returns. Former lead throat of the band Helstar, James Rivera fronts the mic for some early Maiden/Priest type vocal stylings. Pretty basic formula here. Twin axe guitars dueling back and forth, steady drum beats and, oh, that set of lungs. Music tempo is around the speed of Judas Priests "Painkiller", a bit faster in most areas tho. Really cool sounding. Takes you back to the 80's. Fans of the Hammerfall, Jag Panzer, Blind Guardian style will appreciate this a lot. Stand out tunes include "To Be Immortal", "Where Do We Go" and "The Obscure".

I saw these guys open for iced earth and jag panzer in denver and it rocked hard! Destinys End is a hybrid of power metal and thrash, with nice headbangig beats coupled with an 80's vocal style. For fans of iced earth, jag panzer and blind guardian you cant go wrong here.

With his original band Helstar on more or less permanent hiatus, vocalist James Rivera has certainly kept himself busy, fronting bands like Vicious Rumors, Seven Witches, and of course Destiny's End.

Destiny's End debuted in 1999 with the album Breathe Deep the Dark, a thrash-infused power metal album highly reminiscent of Rivera's work with Helstar. The band obviously used Iron Maiden and Judas Priest as their template, adding in slightly more modern power metal elements that fans of Jag Panzer and Angel Dust should find familiar. Expect plenty of lightning fast guitar riffing, frenetic drumming, and an old school metal vocal performance. It's what you'd get if you crossed The Warning-era Queensryche with Testament.

Breathe Deep the Dark is a decent enough album, but aside from Rivera's signature wail there's really not a lot that makes it stand out from the pack. It's worth checking out if you run across it for a couple of bucks, if you really want to hear James Rivera wailing over some blistering guitar riffs, you're much better off with a copy of Helstar's Nosferatu.

This release marks the "return" of James Rivera of Helstar, and he does a killer job on the vocals once again. Great guitar work, good sound, very tight and accomplished. For an American band, this is a killer release. One of the best CDs out of America, bar none. They are right up there with Symphony X and Agent Steel. In fact, if you like either of those two bands, or if you prefer American Power Metal to Euro Power Metal, this band is for you.

These guys rock, and very hard at that. This album is not for those who need to hear growlers for singers, down-tuned guitars, or midgets "kickin' it on the mic, yeeeaaah boyyy!". This is like one part old Metallica + one part old Iron Maiden + one part Merciful Fate + with a dash of Queensryche, bake for 30 minutes and you get a huge metal pie that falls outta the oven and smashes yer toes into oblivion!! The second track will be hard to not listen to over and over again, and the whole album will bring a tear of joy to the eye of those who seriously miss that really heavy (and still underground)metal we so loved in the 80's. This album is one sweet kick in da [head]! If thou must bang thy head till blood spilleth on the ground, then thou must obey thy command and purchase this disk of most mighty metalness!!!

Of course, this is my opinion, take it or leave it. This is one album I really don't like. It is very one-dimensional. It sounds to me as if there is one song on this album arranged 11 times. All the tempos, drumming style, and singing are very similar from song to song, with little or nothing to differentiate them. I must have listened to this album about 20 times now, trying to capture hidden nuances, but I still have not found any. Very disappointing.