Customer Reviews

Vigilance

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

 

 

A powerful yet melodic cd that'll kick you straight in the balls! Every track is unique and different. To the everyday average Joe listeners, they may find each track a bit repetitive. But in the ears of a musician, they hear otherwise. Mind blowing melody riffs and solos. If you enjoyed their first album, brace yourself for ball crushing tone and tight precise machine gun licks that'll rip you to shreds. Best metal album I've listened to in a long time, 6/5 stars.

Back in 2006, I bought Threat Signal's full length debut "Under Reprisal" (from Nuclear Blast), and after listening to it, I quickly fell in love with it, and it quickly became one of my favorite metal albums of 2006. Threat Signal are an awesome young metal band that have sounds that are reminiscent of bands such as Strapping Young Lad, Mnemic, Raunchy, Meshuggah, and Fear Factory, giving these guys a very unique sound. Now it's 2009, and these young Canadian metal powerhousers have returned with a new lineup and a brand new album entitled "Vigilance". I bought this album at Best Buy on my birthday back in September, and I really dig it alot. While the first album was produced by Fear Factory member Christian Olde Wolbers, the production on this album is handled by original vocalist Jon Howard, while the mixing and mastering is handled by Greg Reely, making the overall vibe of this album more relaxed. Joining Howard on "Vigilance" are new guitarists Travis Montgomery and Adam Weber, new bassist Pat Kavanagh, and new drummer Norman Killeen, and they all help keep the Threat Signal sound very much intact even with some groove mixed in for good measure. The musicianship and the songwriting are top notch as they were on the first album. Howard's vocals are awesome with a mixture of aggressive, piercing screams and great clean melodic singing, while Montgomery and Weber both steal the show here with their beefy and pummeling riffs and ripping melodic solos, and Kavanagh and Killeen both keep their rhythm section tight and blistering throughout. Every song on "Vigilance" is just fantastic especially the opening groovy track "Afterlife" which boasts a catchy and groovy vibe throughout, and the following cut "Through My Eyes" is highighted by a superb melodic sung chorus and some stunning guitar melodies. Other highlights on here include "The Beginning of the End" and "United We Stand" which both feature some awesome melodic and ripping solos especially on the former mentioned song, and the latter mentioned song features a loud and blistering intro and a nice acoustic outro. My favorite song on here would no doubt have to be "Lost" which is highlighted by an acoustic intro as well as blistering, chugging guitars and double bass kicking, and another stunning solo to boot. Other songs I enjoy here include "Hate Machine" (which is another one of my favorites that boasts vicious, thrashing riffs, pounding drums, and heart wrenching screams), "Severed", "Escape From Reality", "Another Source of Light" (which is a great ballad), and "To Remember" is a fantastic album closer that starts off brutal and heavy and ends on a melodic note. All in all, "Vigilance" is an excellent follow-up to "Under Reprisal", and it really shows that despite all the lineup changes that Threat Signal have been through, they will still able to keep it all together here. Anyways, if you enjoyed Threat Signal's first album "Under Reprisal", then by all means you'll really enjoy "Vigilance". Highly Recommended for fans of Meshuggah, Fear Factory, Mnemic, Raunchy, and Strapping Young Lad.

I heard Stephen Carpenter (Deftones guitarist) mention these guys in an interview on SiriusXM's Liquid Metal channel and then came across this CD. Consistently intense and showcasing impressive guitar techniques, I was pleasantly surprised by Vigilance.

strong cd but the first album was better. I liked the guitar players on the first cd better, also i thought the singing vocal harmonies were stronger and better mixed on the first cd. I read the first album was recorded in a few weeks this cd was given more time to record. The only original member is the singer whos voice is super strong. its worth buying and it sounds like the same band. There is probably more screaming on this cd but its defiantly worth the buy. they are a strong metalcore band. I have a feeling their next cd will be even tighter though.

I like this album better than Under Reprisal. Pretty much every song is very strong and the guitars and melodies are just breathtakingly beautiful. I like the singer's growl voice, but I was hoping he would sing more on this album. The couple songs he sang on under reprisal I thought he sounded freaking awesome! Its a shame, he has a great singing voice. Maybe he will do some singing on the next album, Overall, a great record!!

I have to say that I expected like so many do that Threat Signal would come out with something just like their first cd. Upon reflection this would be near impossible unless the singer wrote all the music. Over half the band are new members different from the lineup of Under Reprisal. I think there are some good songs on here but I still prefer the first cd to this. The beginning of track number one almost reminds me of how Indestructible by Disturbed starts out. I will say that where songs on the first one didn't flow with each other these seem to more. Give it a listen if you can before you buy it.

Does not happen too often in today's music but Threat Signal followed up "Under Reprisal" with an amazing album, "Vigilence". They honed into their unique sound and came out with a very well rounded with no filler.

2006, we saw the release of Under Reprisal, the debut album from Threat Signal. Amongst the load of bands with similar sounds like Strapping Young Lad, Mnemic, Raunchy, and Fear Factory, Threat Signal was one band that while they had a sound similar to these bands, it made for a unique sound that made Under Reprisal one of the best albums of '06. Three years later, they're back with a new lineup and a new album. On the first album, they were fortunate enough to work with Christian Olde Wolbers (Fear Factory, Arkaea) as producer. For one of his first production projects, he did a hell of a job. This time, the vibe is more relaxed as the label (Nuclear Blast) let them record Vigilance with Jon Howard (vocals) producing, while Greg Reely (Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad) handled mixing & mastering. The Threat Signal sound is very much intact with some groove mixed in for effect, so there's no need to worry if you thought that they couldn't top the first album. I've been waiting for this album ever since Under Reprisal came out, and with all the lineup changes they've been through, it's great that they've managed to keep it together. I hope that they can stick around for a long time.

I have both of their album's I thought their first was pretty awesome and heavy. I was really looking forward to getting their newest release an I got it an listened to it an I'd have to say I wasn't exactly satisfied with it. They like toned their music down a bit its just not as heavy an the vocals and screaming does not sound as good as the first album. I recommend this album, others may think that this album's awesome but I'd just have to say its good an they can or could sound better.