Supergroup – so often a term used to describe lame side projects by members of well-known bands; so often a tired marketing ploy to generate hype for someone’s new band when they’ve left their old band after one too many “creative differences”. Fortunately, metal produces some excellent supergroups, a by-product of being a genre where – even now – actual musical talent is required of performers.
With Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover (of Megadeth fame) on guitar and drums, Matt Bach (founding and current rhythm guitarist) of Shadows Fall on bass and with throat martyring carried out by Henry Derek, erstwile vocalist of another supergroup Scar the Martyr, Birth and the Burial (Metal Blade) by Act of Defiance is an intriguing prospect; low-key enough to not be an ego or alimony-inspired project, with big enough chops to promise a serious bangover.
The first song, ‘Throwback’, is noodletastic – the intro is like a bowl of ramen. Then we’re into an Overkill-esque riff that sets to tone for the rest of the track, which whilst being hugely derivative and keeps reminding me of several bands, gets the head nodding and yields the beginnings of a metal pout. Not bad. ‘Legion of Lies’ has big, rich, soupy riff goodness straight out the the Arch Enemy playbook that sets the left foot a-tapping and gets the head nodding from the get go and only lets up for the choral breakdowns that serve as choruses. Nice.
Elsewhere, ‘Thy Lord Belial’ sounds like the unholy love child of Slayer and Trivium which will have both camps wanting to hate it and love it at the same time; ‘Refrain and Re-Fracture’ opens in classic Megadeth style – it’s almost weird not hearing Dave’s vocals on this – and develops into a NWOAHM riff-fest; ‘Dead Stare’ gives us riffs from Testament, vocal breaks from Rise to Addiction, and the understandable play-every-note-you-can-find guitar breaks of Megadeth.
And that’s pretty much the story for the rest of the album. You have the wonderful symphonic sensibilities (and scales-as-solos) of Megadeth married to the modern frenetic circle-pit baiting bombast of the American New Wave. It’s great to see the old and new schools coming together in what is a very entertaining and promising first album, where the only criticism is that at times things sound bitty. While they haven’t quite managed to alloy the two sounds together just yet, I’m very much hoping to see what happens when they do.
7.0/10
PHILIP PAGE