The press kit for this record reads normal, until we look a little deeper. Martyr formed in 1982 and earned attention three years later with a major single and album. Further details about tours and acts sharing the stage – standard stuff for a forty-plus-year-old act. Then, “[U]nleash their seventh studio album Dark Believer through ROAR.” Wait, what? Seventh? When did they form? Huh. That’s like Guns ‘n’ Roses pace.
Let’s have a listen, shall we?
First, worth the wait. The music makes me very happy to love Metal.
The lyrics? Lyrics seem almost like an AI response for “Heavy Metal lyrics.” I’m not going to bore you with all of them, but let’s go through a couple samples for reference. “Insidious” includes “The sun is left to die / The devil sent / falling lights / Morning sends / Fear no evil.” Or, the second verse of “Harvest Of Souls”: “Thought I would drown before I hit the ground / And you would come for me today / I’ve been followed in your darkest cloud and take it all.”
Rop van Haren crafted a bunch of tone poems instead of logically and gramatically consistent lyrics. Cool. Highly effective. But maybe the original Danish flowed better. I won’t really comment on lyrics below, but this is largely the kind of thing you’re going to get.
Opener “Venom’s Scent” promises a Thrash album to follow. Guitars driving at Thrash speed, and lyrical tempos somewhat reminiscent of Anthrax or Testament. This tune rocks really hard and has to be a crowd favorite live.
My notes for “The Weight Of Words” start “Metal Church love song.” Make of that what you want, but Vinnie Wassink’s nifty bass solo, van Haren’s soaring vocals, and piano[?!] make this an interesting and fun change of pace.
“Insidious” begins settling in with Martyr’s foundational template: fast-paced, simple lyrics (freak out the straights with satanic imagery in this case,) cool guitar harmonies and solos.
Come for Rick Bowman and Justin Schut’s guitar virtuosity, stay for Elwin Molenaar’s at times amphetamine-speed drums driving the tempo into near-Dragonforce speed.
“Cemetery Symphony” sets itself apart with the classical guitar solo giving way to guitar duet. Van Haren’s Geoff Tate/Queensryche vocals become the norm for the balance of the album.
Dark Beliver delivers high-quality Metal devoid of wild Prog risks or incoherent Black/Death
Metal vocals. Van Haren doesn’t maintain the vocals to call this Power Metal, and the tempo of many songs lean into Speed Metal, but don’t fully commit. Straight-up guitar-lovin’ sing alongable vocals, and enough aggression to fuel a locker room define Martyr’s seventh album. Only a really annoying growls enthusiast could possibly hate this album. To really understand the Helloween and Iron Maiden comparisons I avoided leaning on, you gotta get the album. In fact, I highly recommend it.
Buy the album here:
https://www.roar-records.de
8 / 10
LARRY ROGERS
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