The King Will Die

As much as I dig the diligent and well-versed traditional heavy metal youtube purveyor “NWOTHM” (as simple and effective a moniker as any), there are times, however rare, when a particular selection of his fails to stir beyond a cursory glance and token listen. Such is the case with the Lower Saxony twin-guitar quintet which banally calls itself Velocity and sounds way too much like a blatant carbon copy - albeit less talented - of Trivium, itself no stranger to controversy here at the metal-archives largely in part to its guitarist/front man, Matt Heafy (whose overtures have gone as far as inspiring a “heafy metal” mime!). That said, its 2016 full-length debut, the soothsaying The King Will Die, with its "hall"owed and striking cover art, represents one of the weaker offerings on said trad metal “king”’s behalf.

Velocity’s vocalist readily brings Heafy to mind on the opening “Storms of the North”, from which the listener gleans ample confirmation and scope of the band’s overall sound as the eight tracks on display, minus a lame ballad in “No More Tears” (Ozzy called and wants his MTV staple back), adhere to a tenebrous “samey” vibe. The guitar riffs are somewhat basic and conservative (the main riff to “Storms of the North” is a chromatic dead-ringer for the very first level of Doom, the groundbreaking first person shooter from back in the day), backed as they are by a regulated, mid-tempo rhythm section which doesn’t stray far off the beaten path; the bass isn’t very audible or profound, except for at the beginning of the rampantly shuffling and groove bested “Sorrowing Meadows”, while the drummer sounds like he’s simply going through the motions of laying the minimum foundation for his band mates to work with. In fairness, he sets up a bit of a tribal and militant march - accompanied by bagpipes no less - on the bridge to “The Hunter and the Prey”, a notable Trivium evoking track as it’s quasi-urgent as well as mythic flair brings to mind “Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis”, off the Floridians’ stellar Shogun from 2008, as well as a chill ride during “The Gunswordknight”. The upshot is that his compressed and harried beats remind me of Megadeth’s late Nick Menza’s (RIP), circa the Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia days. Otherwise, there isn’t much for me to go on in the battery department.

Mind you, the guitar solos/lead trade-offs are decent and well played out while flashing some genial (yet not genius) finger-taps and wild bends, like they do on “Storms of the North” or “The Collector”, thus saving the latter from total disgrace as its chorus is truly awful; here, the singer goes off on this awkwardly weird poppy bent before yawping the song’s title ad nauseum. His cheesy bark/growl at the end doesn’t help either. The chorus to “The Hunter and the Prey” is also quite cringe-worthy; note how right after, he attempts a trite, breathlessly theatrical, Bruce Dickinson on “Still Life” sort of stunt. Thankfully, the succeeding “N.W.O.” (irritatingly evokes “N.W.A.”, no?) is much less stilted and, alongside the moderately redemptive closing title track, mildly establishes Velocity’s identity, however undeveloped. The vocals and all-around musicianship here are refreshingly poignant; the leads’ increased ardor and melody serve to further embellish what is possibly the album’s strongest cut. I also dug their punctuating, glitch-like warble as it lends a nice signatory touch to the guitarists’ aspiring chops.

I suppose my main gripe with Velocity’s The King Will Die is how I was effortlessly reeled in yet despondently left in the lurch following its somewhat promising opener. Granted, the album as a whole coasts by rapidly and painlessly but this is no part due to the wandering power ballad which makes for a fine lullaby when the melatonin runs dry. At the risk of sounding like a cad, consider listening to this release the equivalent of strolling into a brothel with pockets a-jinglin' and settling for a hand-job (the politically correct version entails “Baskin Robbins” and “vanilla”). Essentially, it beholds the Germans to return to the drawing board, shed the finesse and throw down in a more focused and aggressive manner. When push comes to shove, you might want to skip this altogether and keep scrolling down “NWOTHM”’s continuously expanding play-list as the gems therein are certainly not lacking.