Review Summary: Tastes like 1 week old left overs from a once glorious meal.
Well, this was a HUGE disappointment. God, everything Savatage-esque that has been released as of late has been one giant cuccumber up the butt. For the uninitiated, Savatage is THE gay-ass Metal band to listen to. Each and every one of their releases ranges from "great" to "***ing brilliance." Savatage reminded me why I love Heavy Metal so damn much and it also got my friends into Theatrical Metal. We're not panzies either. Me and my social group are tattooed, whiskey drinking sons of bitches, yet something about Savatage's music always hit our hearts. I can't COUNT the number of times me and my buddies would get tanked at the bar and then just end our night listening to "Dead Winter Dead," quietly conversing about how AWESOME the band is.
Then the band goes and splits up in 2001 cuz they were losing money by making Savatage albums. Pfffftttt....
Well, all was not lost. Jon Oliva swore to keep the Savatage flame alive by starting his solo band "Pain," and we also had TSO, a huge, orchestrated, broadway-esque, xmas thing. The past 3 years have been horrible for us fans though. TSO, whom I fell in love with (post Xmas stuff) released a clunker with "Night Castle." Basically, a bunch of butchered, re-hashed Savatage songs. Not bad (Epiphany and There Was A Life save it) but nowhere near as good as I'd hoped. Jon Oliva, whose band I always enjoyed, released "Festival," which was even WORSE!!!! So, now we have our only hope left, Zakk Stevens' newest album, "Consequence of Power."
Zakk Stevens is the former vocalist for Savatage and a damn good one at that. Although I never enjoyed his vocals quite a smuch as Mr. Oliva's, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Operatic and emotional yet with enough edge to keep things from being flamboyant. The backing musicians that surround him are also quite competent, yet nameless, and in no way deserve to have their names mentioned in a review as of yet.
Why?
All of Circle ii Circle's releases have been above average at best. While Savatage, as mentioned before, ranged from "great" to "brilliant," all of Circle ii Circle's releases have ranged from "crap" to "***, what a waste of time. Well, it wasn't too bad I guess." It's because the music is just SO GOD DAMN UNIMAGINATIVE and is thusly-boring!
Well, "Consequence of Power" doesn't break that trend. The songs sound alike and too much like every other average Traditional Metal band on the planet. Even Zakk's vocals, which were GREAT in Savatage, sound watered down and just plain coma inducing. Nothing about this album stood out in my mind by the time the album finished. One listen might seem like I'm not giving it a chance but no, I REALLY do not want to confirm that the album is less sucky than it is. When I hate an album THIS much, it's a chore to listen to it.
Riffing, drumming, vocals, solos-all are completely generic and cookie cut. The only thing that ISN'T generic is the production, which is flat out bad. Everything sounds disjointed and unpolished. Not a good job, no sir!
Look, this is the end for Circle ii Circle. The album is terrible , and is made worse when we consider the lofty legacy that Zakk helped create. "Consequence of Power" does nothing but prove absolutely that Paul O'Neil and Jon Oliva were the brains behind Savatage and Zakk just did as he was told.
Words that come to mind when listening to "Consequence of Power":
"Generic." "Pathetic." "Faceless." "Disappointing." "Celebacy."
Pass the album. End the band. Get Savatage back together. Spit on this album!
