"Delivering The Goods"
Century Media
By Tate Bengtson The first volume of Century Media’s tribute series was great, and volume two continues that fine tradition. Gamma Ray’s energetic rendition of “Exciter” is true to the original without losing the distinguishing characteristics of the performing band, and launches delivering goods on the right foot. Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad, Physicist, etc.) offers up a rockin’ version of “Sinner” which melds a dense wall of instrumentation with subtle keyboard movement that makes for a very interesting interpretation of this Priest classic. Two of the bands which I anticipated would put forth some of the strongest material actually ended up contributing rather weak covers, those being Stratovarius’ rendering of the “Bloodstone,” which is butchered by annoying high-pitched yelps, and Angra’s weak performance on “Painkiller,” which, in Angra’s defense, would be a difficult tune to cover and retain the magical intensity of the original. Perhaps lacking the massive names of the first tribute, like Mercyful Fate, Nevermore, Kreator, and many others, and a little more straight-up traditional/power metal in orientation, this is a very solid follow-up despite a few weak points. |
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