AGENT STEEL - ALIENIGMA
THEIR WEAKEST EFFORT SO FAR.
Four years since their excellent Order of the illuminati, the masters of metal, The Asians of Steel, oh excuse me, Agents of Steel are back with a brand new album.
Since then a few things have changed, this feels more mature and less over the top with crazy conspiracies and otherworldly falsetto screams. But it's still Agent Steel we're talking about here so there is definitely a lot of that here too but maybe not as wild and crazy, this is a bit tame in comparison to some of their early stuff. I also think that the absolute killer standout tracks from all their previous releases is kinda missing in action here.
Bruce Hall who in my opinion is one of the greatest replacement singers does a great job filling John Cyriis old boots. His voice has matured or ages a bit here since he sounds a bit rougher and lower than on the previous two Agent Steel recods. At times he almost barks like he was fronting Exodus or something.
The production also sounds slightly more modern production but some things remains the same. Versailles and Garcia, the phenomenal guitar duo delivers riffs and especially leads that will make your head explode and fly into outer space.
Alienigma kinda sounds like a Nevermore-album in sound and production. A decision that will alienate (no pun intended) some of the old Agent Steel fans, including myself to some degree. Compared to earlier Agent Steel albums this might be seen as a slight disappointment but compared to a lot of other metal albums coming out in 2007 this is actually pretty decent.
So I'm not going to tear Alienigma apart completely, it's an ok album for any other band in the genre but I have high standards for this band because I know their back catalogue and I know that Agent Steel can deliver some incredible albums from time to time but perhaps this wasn't the homerun that we hoped for. I hope that Agent Steel finds a way to re-discover their old ways and why not with John Cyriis returning, We are allowed to dream aren't we?
So I'm not going to tear Alienigma apart completely, it's an ok album for any other band in the genre but I have high standards for this band because I know their back catalogue and I know that Agent Steel can deliver some incredible albums from time to time but perhaps this wasn't the homerun that we hoped for. I hope that Agent Steel finds a way to re-discover their old ways and why not with John Cyriis returning, We are allowed to dream aren't we?
Rating:
| INFO |
Label: Mascot Records Year: 2007 Country: U.S.A. Duration: 53:00 Tracks: 8 Genre: Speed/Power/Thrash Reviewer: Ruthless Rating: 3/5 | ||||||||||||||||
| TRACKS | LINEUP | |||||||||||||||
| Bruce Hall - Vocals Juan Garcia - Guitars Bernie Versailles - Guitars Karlos Medina - Bass Chuck Profus - Drums |
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