This is the second studio album from the band Heathen, this album contains a lot of fast shreds, tight riffing, precise drumming and skilled vocal-work. Here are also songs that appeared on the ¨Recovered¨- album and then they are EP-versions of these original songs which are a bit different.
Band Members:
Dave White - vocals
Lee Altus - guitar
Doug Piercy - guitar
Mike Jazstremski - bass
Darren Minter - drums
Hypnotized (8:35)
The song starts with a man who is preaching, he sounds like on of those brainwashing preachers. This guy says that the churches are the most racist institutions and the people should be like him and all that crazy bull****. After the speech acoustics starts along with slow heavy drumbeats and powerful chords. Some intro soloing and then the song really kicks in, here comes some really shredding riffs, these riffs are very precise and well structured. The song is really catchy and the song is a bit more edited here than the EP-version. 5/5
Opiate For The Masses (7:51)
This song starts with some mini-solos and later the song turns into a real heavy hitter. The song is at medium pace and the riffs are really heavy, the drum pattern is simple not like those Slayer drums. Both verse and chorus are catchy but the song changes a bit after half-time, and then the song gets more intensive and more ¨thrashier¨ and that will say more fast shredds and faster drum work plus skilled soloing. This song is one of my favourite songs and is definitely worth checking out. 5/5
Heathen’s Song (9:26)
Starts with some spooky weather effects along with calm acoustics, later some solos come in and Dave starts to sing. Some drumbeats enters along with more mini-solos, after this the song starts of with heavy riffing, the riffing may feel similar to some of Metallica’s riffs at their early carrier. The song holds for a while and gets calmer and defeated, the structure changes a bit but it is still pounding with these heavy riffs. The song changes its pattern once again and this time it gets more serious, this part is more intensive with its fast riffing and high-pitched solos and fast drums. The song finally ends with these victorious guitar riffs and the song fades in calm acoustics. 4.5/5
Kill The King (3:34)
This song is one of the thrashiest songs, the drumbeats are more intensive and the guitar work has more variation but still heavy and accurate. The solos are great in this song, they are not so melodic but they manage to catch the attention of the listener. The song is a bit catchy but it is may be not that interesting to the listeners. 4/5
Fear Of The Unknown (7:08)
This starts with more spooky and creepy sound effects, and along with the sounds there is a bass included which also have this spooky feel to it. The song later transforms into a fast and heavy Metallica influenced metal song. The riffs are fast and heavy but there are not so much shredding in this song, the verse and chorus are equally catchy and the soloing is great and are played with great skill. 4.75/5
Prisoners Of Fate (6:21)
This song is more of a power ballad but still not, the song starts with some melodic acoustics and later the song gets heavier. The song feels a bit depressing, sad and a bit dramatic, it is hard to describe. Here are also some lyrics that I think is a great example of metal-musicians art of writing lyrics, here for example: ¨Life is a gamble, no matter how you play the game¨ and ¨So much to tell but don’t know what to say¨. The slowest song but it is one of the best on this album. 5/5
Morbid Curiosity (6:27)
This is thrash metal! The song bursts out with these intensive riffs and fast drumbeats. The song structure is pretty much the same but the song is not so catchy. This is the song that I don’t dig as much as the other songs but this song gets credit for its tempo and skilled guitar work. 3.5/5
Guitarmony (3:31)
This is an instrumental song, not much to say about this song except that it would be pretty enjoying for those who like guitar solos. The song is in a medium pace and most of the solos are high-pitched. The song is not catchy but if it would be a bit faster it would be very catchy. 3/5
Mercy Has No Virtue (6:28)
This song kicks *** right at the beginning with its heavy riffing and drumbeats, great drum work until the song starts to take shape. There are lot fast shredding riffs here and the drums are good. There are a few differences between this song and the EP-version, this song has a few lyric fixes and the EP has more bass in it plus other lyrics but it is basically the same lyrics. After half-time the song changes its pattern and gets a bit faster but the heaviness is the same. This is also one of my favourites and it also gets high score. 5/5
Timeless Cell Of Prophecy (5:20)
This song is also one of the thrashiest song one this album, but it also has some Iron Maiden influences here but it is most heard in the guitar solos. The chorus sounds uninteresting while the verse is a bit catchier. Not one of my favourites and it is not a great song to end this great album, but it is up to the listener her/him self. 3.75/5
Done and I hope I didn’t overrated it, this was a great album and it would go home to most thrash-metal fans. This band really knows how to handle a guitar because these riffs are some of the fastest I have heard and I think that these riffs beat both Metallica and Anthrax when it comes to shredding fast. The album is great in any area, the lyrics are good, the vocals are great and the instrumental part is almost superb, but the bass is not as loud as you could’ve hoped for. This band is truly a great thrash-metal band and they deserve some credits and then I mean a lot of credits. If you dig Metallica, Anthrax, Exodus and other thrash-veterans this is the band for you!
PROS
+ Great riffs, fast and heavy
+ Great vocals, sounds similar to Anthrax’s first singer Neil Turbin but better
+ Catchy songs that will hang on for a while after you have listened to them
+ Good variation of the songs
+ The lyrics makes you think and they make sense
CONS
- The bass doesn’t get much attention
- Some of the songs could’ve been shorter
RECOMMENDED TRACKS
• Hyponotized
• Opiate For The Masses
• Prisoners Of Fate
• Mercy Has No Virtue
Overall album rating will be 4.5/5 (but very close to 5/5)
