Where have I been? Doing life, I admit. Time and life, Life and Time! One day I'll get what's mine through the Persistence of Time!
Okay this isn't that album. And what the heck is a FL-UFR? First Listen - Upon Further Review. I take a new album and listen to it once, and jot down my thoughts as it crashes into my brain for the first time. Then I let it simmer, take it in slowly and contemplate the meaning of life with it. Let it walk around a little bit inside my head, let it rearrange the furniture.
Without further ado (or boring exploratory dialogue),
For All Kings
1. "You Gotta Believe" 7:32
FL - I like Cellos. This is what I love about Anthrax. The blend in various themes and out of music sounds to help build a soundscape... and BAM we're in Thrash mode. A nice start, very good thrash metal, and Joey sounds good. (Scotty, Franky and Charlie sound awesome as always). Oh, new boy Jon Donais for the first time. Not a big production for the solo. Nice Frank work and Jon is back.. a nice groove solo going on. Fusion! I like the speed change, you know the Thrash button is coming soon, I like how it builds the tension.
UFR - A good solid metal song. The time changes work, stops it from being a one trick pony. A complex song, great start to the album, showing that this album will have layers, and still fit nicely into your Anthrax collection.
2. "Monster at the End" 3:55
FL - Starts off right away, jumps into the meat of the song. A slower song but still aggressive and pulls you in. The starting rifts work for me. Very catchy chorus. Time change again, are these guys on tour with Iron Maiden again? Oh yes they are. Faster solo this time, fits into the song well.
UFR - The band has moved on from Zombies and are now into Game of Thrones. I like this one. You can see how other bands would have let this one go on, but they got out of the song before it turned into a chorus fest and end up sucking some life out.
3. "For All Kings" 5:00
FL - JOEY! Then we hit the thrash. Not turbo, but solid purposeful Metal. Charlie's drum really shines in this one. He's got a lot going on in the little slow parts. Nice mix of speed, tempo changes. Very nice. Not 5 stars, but very nice.
UFR- A very Anthrax song. Reminds me a lot of the songs on State of Euphoria. And I mean that as a complement. I LOVE that album.
4. "Breathing Lightning" 6:33
FL - An unplugged intro? Jaw drop. Wow love this rift. Now into the metal part of the show. Digging the two guitar sound, and we're into a cool chorus. This is a good one. Digging the lyrics. "You always have the chance to do the right thing". "Is this the right thing? I don't know..." ooooohhh... chorus singing! The NOT! boys are showing some deft touches. Nice solo, good speed. This new guy is showing talent without needing to jump on the amp and scream LOOK AT ME. Dan and Rob got that (haven't heard much Paul. YET). More awesomeness ensues until the ahhhhhhh outro. Love at first listen. 5 Golden stars, already.
UFR - This is an all time great Metal song. Not just a great Anthrax song, a great Metal song. I would pay the full cost of this album for this song alone. It speaks to me on so many levels, I love the structure, the way it builds, the lyrical content, the intro and outro. This is clearly my favorite song of the album and sits at the Pantheon level for me with Anti-Social, I'm the Man, In the End, Indians, I am the Law, Caught in a Mosh, Howling Furies and my one of my favorites, sneaky good "Intro to Reality"
5. "Suzerain" 4:53
FL- The Lightning lingers. This song suffers from following a great song. Very straight forwards thrash song. It has good depth of feeling, good solid riffs and drum work. TIME CHANGE. Very sudden but not to harsh. I like that it isn't just all one flavor, but a good solid mix. A solid end to the first side.
UFR - In longer term listening the chorus gets a tad repetitive, a little more to work there would have been nice. I think if they had ended the first side with Lightning instead of this one, it would be scoring better. But in the shadow of the big song, honestly I get to about the second "Nothing is over" and I can't take it anymore and have to go back to Breathing Lightning. And that makes me feel sad for Suzerain, because it's a good song by itself, but Lightning is just so darn good!
So far this is a worthy follow-on for Worship Music and they really haven't lost a step. "Breathing Lightning" is the standout for me, a sure fire drop into my "play at all times" playlist. Second half coming up soon.
Okay this isn't that album. And what the heck is a FL-UFR? First Listen - Upon Further Review. I take a new album and listen to it once, and jot down my thoughts as it crashes into my brain for the first time. Then I let it simmer, take it in slowly and contemplate the meaning of life with it. Let it walk around a little bit inside my head, let it rearrange the furniture.
Without further ado (or boring exploratory dialogue),
For All Kings
1. "You Gotta Believe" 7:32
FL - I like Cellos. This is what I love about Anthrax. The blend in various themes and out of music sounds to help build a soundscape... and BAM we're in Thrash mode. A nice start, very good thrash metal, and Joey sounds good. (Scotty, Franky and Charlie sound awesome as always). Oh, new boy Jon Donais for the first time. Not a big production for the solo. Nice Frank work and Jon is back.. a nice groove solo going on. Fusion! I like the speed change, you know the Thrash button is coming soon, I like how it builds the tension.
UFR - A good solid metal song. The time changes work, stops it from being a one trick pony. A complex song, great start to the album, showing that this album will have layers, and still fit nicely into your Anthrax collection.
2. "Monster at the End" 3:55
FL - Starts off right away, jumps into the meat of the song. A slower song but still aggressive and pulls you in. The starting rifts work for me. Very catchy chorus. Time change again, are these guys on tour with Iron Maiden again? Oh yes they are. Faster solo this time, fits into the song well.
UFR - The band has moved on from Zombies and are now into Game of Thrones. I like this one. You can see how other bands would have let this one go on, but they got out of the song before it turned into a chorus fest and end up sucking some life out.
3. "For All Kings" 5:00
FL - JOEY! Then we hit the thrash. Not turbo, but solid purposeful Metal. Charlie's drum really shines in this one. He's got a lot going on in the little slow parts. Nice mix of speed, tempo changes. Very nice. Not 5 stars, but very nice.
UFR- A very Anthrax song. Reminds me a lot of the songs on State of Euphoria. And I mean that as a complement. I LOVE that album.
4. "Breathing Lightning" 6:33
FL - An unplugged intro? Jaw drop. Wow love this rift. Now into the metal part of the show. Digging the two guitar sound, and we're into a cool chorus. This is a good one. Digging the lyrics. "You always have the chance to do the right thing". "Is this the right thing? I don't know..." ooooohhh... chorus singing! The NOT! boys are showing some deft touches. Nice solo, good speed. This new guy is showing talent without needing to jump on the amp and scream LOOK AT ME. Dan and Rob got that (haven't heard much Paul. YET). More awesomeness ensues until the ahhhhhhh outro. Love at first listen. 5 Golden stars, already.
UFR - This is an all time great Metal song. Not just a great Anthrax song, a great Metal song. I would pay the full cost of this album for this song alone. It speaks to me on so many levels, I love the structure, the way it builds, the lyrical content, the intro and outro. This is clearly my favorite song of the album and sits at the Pantheon level for me with Anti-Social, I'm the Man, In the End, Indians, I am the Law, Caught in a Mosh, Howling Furies and my one of my favorites, sneaky good "Intro to Reality"
5. "Suzerain" 4:53
FL- The Lightning lingers. This song suffers from following a great song. Very straight forwards thrash song. It has good depth of feeling, good solid riffs and drum work. TIME CHANGE. Very sudden but not to harsh. I like that it isn't just all one flavor, but a good solid mix. A solid end to the first side.
UFR - In longer term listening the chorus gets a tad repetitive, a little more to work there would have been nice. I think if they had ended the first side with Lightning instead of this one, it would be scoring better. But in the shadow of the big song, honestly I get to about the second "Nothing is over" and I can't take it anymore and have to go back to Breathing Lightning. And that makes me feel sad for Suzerain, because it's a good song by itself, but Lightning is just so darn good!
So far this is a worthy follow-on for Worship Music and they really haven't lost a step. "Breathing Lightning" is the standout for me, a sure fire drop into my "play at all times" playlist. Second half coming up soon.
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