The Second Coming

This is a cool album in some ways, but it's rather surprising that none of the other reviews of it have taken note of its severe and uncomfortable samey-ness. This isn't hyperbole at all, I'm not trying to call it overly samey just because it's all at the same tempo or I don't like it as much as Battle at Helm's Deep or anything. Like seriously, how do you not notice this is the same song with minor variations repeated for the length of an album? This is samey-er then Dragonforce, and on par with the samey-ness of Persuader's Evolution Purgatory. Then again, that album has consistently glowing reviews, as well, so apparently a lot of people just don't mind hearing something that's 90% the same song over and over again, unless it's something that's popular to make fun of, like Dragonforce (all of whose albums are more diverse than Evolution Purgatory or The Second Coming. The most frustrating thing about this album, though, is that it clocks in at under 30 minutes, a length at which you'd think it wouldn't be so bad to hear several rather similar tracks...but it still completely sucks out my enjoyment of the album, after the first song. It's just so severe that I'm constantly checking the 'now playing' song to make sure it's actually a different song, actively hoping there might be some new ideas on the next track; hell, I think a mediocre ballad would improve the experience here. At least I wouldn't be thinking from track 2 to the end of the album that this is a complete borefest, because despite the style being great and the vocalist being great and the musicianship being great, it feels like a torturous limbo of dead riffs that have never been allowed to rest in peace. I guess some people are fine with that, but seriously, seriously, someone else must have taken notice of it.

Yes, I do prefer 1985's Battle at Helm's Deep, and perhaps I still would even if The Second Coming had interesting songwriting; it's hard to say, since that's not the case. A lot of people dislike Bob Mitchell's performance on Battle, which does annoy me since I think he sounds great there, but honestly I think newcomer vocalist John Leone is every bit as good - not quite as much character as Mitchell, but what he lacks in character he makes up for in sheer power and technical prowess. The production is good, the style is slightly different but still cool - more speed metal a la Liege Lord, which is fine by me. The only problem here, at all, is the songwriting, but it's more than enough. If you want to listen to this album, keep the opener "Lords of Thunder" on repeat 8 times and you'll more or less get the same experience! Otherwise, listen to stuff that does this style, but better, like Liege Lord, or maybe Agent Steel. It's a shame vocalist John Leone didn't do much else (Phantom Lord is underwhelming, though maybe Hawkfire is worth a listen, I haven't heard them), but this is really one I'd recommend skipping. Go for Battle at Helm's Deep or the newest album, Giants of Canaan if you need that Attacker fix.