Customer Reviews

Transition

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

 

 

What once seemed fresh merely days ago has already begun to sound a bit stale. In this case I refer not to the actual music generating from the mini-Koss PC speakers as I type (courtesy of Destiny's End), but rather the propensity for authoring prophetic, anti- cybertech lyrics in heavy metal bands today. Dire warnings concerning our increased reliance on technology are as predominant in 2001 as the whole nuclear war theme was in the 80s. The problem is that the point behind the lyrics are that our desire for convenience and efficiency are leading us toward a reliance on technology, in turn increasing our individual complacency and sense of irresponsibility. But this attitude has been espoused time and again in the modern era ever since George Orwell set loose the horrifying "1984" on the world in 1949, but you didn't hear rock bands complaining a few short years later when the TV dinner was unleashed on an unwitting (yet pathetically grateful) public. And yet that almost-too-obvious invention has probably been the cornerstone of mankind's desire for the quick and easy, at least in the last 50 years.

Ah well, time enough later for a full scale deconstruction of that reactionary philosophy, on to the music. What kind of metal fan reads lyrics anyway? That's why the alternakids fell for Marilyn Manson and we didn't. The truth, which I've been concealing for your own good in the hope you'd get bored and quit reading by now, is that Destiny's End really kick a**. I'd go so far as to say this band could be the heir apparent to Fates Warning when the latter finally go to seed. Granted, that could be never, considering Fates' stubborn unwillingness to chart any sort of downward career trajectory up to this point, but Destiny's End will be there chugging along with them until the geriatric end. "From Dust To Life" fairly reeks of Ray Alder's stones and Mark Zonder's sweat, which is a compliment, by the way. But Destiny's End are not clones (for that- see my Sisthema review) but rather torchbearers of what was great about 80s metal. And that's a commitment to craft, songwriting and a willingness to write material that may, in fact, be kind of a pain to have to play live every night. I'm personally making a CD-R dub of "Transition" and express mailing it to whoever's in charge of Queensryche's screw ups these days. They apparently haven't received any of the other stuff I've sent them over the last five or six years, but that's how the music biz works. There's nothing wrong with realizing the last decade of your life has been a horrendous misstep and backtracking to chart a course from another step in your band's evolution, but since Geoff Tate's too proud to do that Destiny's End have done it for him.

If there's a WIN/WIN situation, here it is. Great album.

And the service was excellenté as always!

Okay, in my review for Vainglory's self titled album I let it be known that I'm not a speed metal guy; more death and thrash -i.e. the heavy stuff. Well that goes for power metal as well. There are some great power metal bands and don't get me wrong some rock but a lot times they tend to get too "progressive" with keyboards or symphonic elements thrown in, ad nauseum. This band is power metal and has the aforementioned "progressive" elements however they tend to stick more with the guitar(s), bass, drums, vocals formula as opposed to becoming an opera (later day Iced Earth -why Jon, why?). I got the album as I consider myself to be fairly open minded in metal music (King Diamond, Suffocation, Death, Obituary, Nile, Megadeth, Napalm Death, old Ozzy) -I like a lot of the different subgenres. This is good band that put out a good couple albums and split up. This album is power metal and anthemic but still keeps the metallic edge. Outside of my norm, but I enjoy it and you will too if you're openminded musically.

More mature, more Heaviness than the "breath depth....", speed riff, great album, the spirit of Helstar is not dead, long live to Nosferatu. "Transition", "Stormcloud", "the Watcher" are the best song. GAFKA