Review Summary: Could one of the most underrated metal bands of today continue their streak of greatness?
Icarus Witch is one of those bands you may have heard of, but never really bothered to listen to. This is disappointing since they're previous four efforts were truly amazing. A great, classic heavy metal sound comparable to that of legends like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.
I hate to judge something but a simple change, but when I heard that vocalist Matthew Bizilia had departed from the band, I knew that the band wasn't going to be the same again. But hey, at least my judgemental dislike of change was right. Rise sounds absolutely nothing like Icarus Witch's past albums. That's not necessarily bad on it's own, but if you're going to change something, at least make it good.
Gone is the classic and epic sounds of old, and here is a generic, done to death, modern sounding power metal album that takes very few risks in any department.
The opening song is "The End."....GET IT?!
But seriously, the first track is one of the more tolerable in the album, but the new singer is truly something that may hit you. Perhaps because he sounds so medicore and vanilla. Bizila hits you like a ton of bricks in every song with his powerful, and identifyable voice. The new singer hits you more like a feather that a baby threw at you. You can hear something like it in a lot of bands today.
I knew that (We Are) The New Revolution was going to be bad the second that I saw the title. Nothing screams "We think we're the sh*t and we just KNOW you're going to love this album" like (We Are) The New Revolution.
I wasn't wrong either. Everything from the lyrics, to the riffs, to the singing, everything was bad and it's just a taste of what this hurricane of disappointment has to offer.
The title track isn't too bad. It can be kinda catchy, but it still fails to impress. Not really the worst this album has to offer.
For whatever reason, the introduction to Coming of the Storm was cut out and made into a whole new track called Asylum Harbour. That title actually sounds pretty cool. Too bad the separation of the two was completely pointless and neither song is good. Coming of the Storm is so bland and mind numbingly boring that I'm surprised you're listening to this LP still. You're a real trooper
Tragedy was the first song to be released on this album, and even then it failed to impress me. I already thought it wasn't going to be as good as past efforts, but I didn't think that it was going to be THAT bad. Then I listened to this song. Boring, generic, not worth your time.
Say When actually started pretty promising, but then the song actually gets to the verse and it starts sounding like any crappy song you can hear on any rock radio station. I'm sorry I'm using the word generic so much, but I can't help it! It's so damned generic!
Break the Cycle...is a doozy. I was nearly gagging at how bad this song is. I thought it couldn't get any worse than it.
Then came Nothing is Forever. A run of the mill acoustic love song that sounds so out of place and so vanilla that it hardly even sounds like the same band. It sounds like they grabbed some random hard rock band from some karaoke bar and told them to play a song for their new album. Truly terrible track.
Just when you thought all hope was lost, a prayer has been answered with a track called Pray. This song is actually good! It's fast, fun, catchy, heavy, and a true joy to listen to. If you have to listen to any song on this album, Pray is your best bet.
With the next track, In the Dark, Icarus Witch decides to experiment with southern metal...for some reason.
Like, really. Where the f*ck did a southern metal song come from? So, looks like they went to some random biker bar in Tennessee and grabbed some guys with guitars to play this song for them. They really need to stop doing that.
Oh yeah, and the fake country accent that the singer attempts is irritating.
At least the LP ends on a high note. While not as good as Pray, Last Call for Living is pretty good. Really catchy, pretty groovin', and puts epic images in your head. I like it.
If I may quote Brian Gerbetz of Alternative Revolt Magazine, he says Rise is:
"An epic hybrid of Black Veil hooks and Black Tide intensity."
That appears to be used as a compliment, but allow me to alter some things to make it a more accurate insult:
Rise is as boring, bland, and annoying as
Black Veil Brides, and is as disappointing and sell-outish as
Black Tide's awful second album. Please, listen to ANY other Icarus Witch record other than this one. You'll thank me later.
