Ulterium\/Sound Pollution<\/p>\n
US heavy metal band THEOCRACY goes against the grain. They use choruses, epic arrangements and progressive elements to an extent that is not American. Since their self titled debut in 2003 they\u00b4ve done some live work, in the US and in Europe, plus released a follow-up, the acclaimed \u201cMirror of Souls\u201d. This is the difficult third album, and to start on the right foot they hired Mika Jussila (STRATOVARIUS, NIGHTWISH) for mixing, and Felipe Machado Franco (BLIND GUARDIAN, ICED EARTH) for the cover artwork. <\/p>\n
The music in itself is not bad, but you can easily get the wrong idea from the opener \u201c\u201dI AM\u201d. The lack of force, the long upstart and other odd traits almost makes it look like red tape in musical terms before the track even get started. To my surprise the second track, \u201cThe Master Storyteller\u201d, sports a good refrain, a fine riff and force enough for both tracks. But THEOCRACY seems to be saving the best for last. The second half of the album is by far the most entertaining. Save the well arranged filler \u201cDrown\u201d they hit the pedal to the metal from the thoughtful power ballad \u201cThe Gift of Music\u201d onwards. There is something cozy about the band, apart from their high level of musicianship. The catchy \u201cAltar to the Unknown God\u201d emphasizes their hit potential as well. They actually almost turn HALLOWEEN-speedy in the whoaah-whooah laden \u201cLight of the World\u201d and the closing title track is a religious variation with a lot more going for it than the chosen mystery of an opener. This is quite excellent, just press fwd when the first track s l o w l y unfolds\u2026<\/p>\n
Track List
\nI AM
\nThe Master Storyteller
\nNailed
\nHide in the Fairytale
\nThe Gift of Music
\n30 Pieces of Silver
\nDrown
\nAltar to the Unknown God
\nLight of the World
\nAs the World Bleeds<\/p>\n
www.ulterium-records.com www.myspace.com\/theocracyband<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ulterium\/Sound Pollution US heavy metal band THEOCRACY goes against the grain. They use choruses, epic arrangements and progressive elements to an extent that is not American. Since their self titled debut in 2003 they\u00b4ve done some live work, in the US and in Europe, plus released a follow-up, the acclaimed \u201cMirror of Souls\u201d. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cd_reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}