Description

Australian pressing

Primal Rock Rebellion is a project of singer Mikee Goodman from the deceased Progressive Metal band Sikth and Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith who also plays the bass guitar on this album and performs some well done background vocals as well. The duo is completed with session musicians in form of drummer Dan Foord, Tarin Kerry as background vocalist on three songs and finally Abi Fry who plays viola on several tracks. Many traditional metal and Iron Maiden fans had some issues with this release but anybody who likes modern Alternative Metal and doesnt mind some elements coming from Groove, Nu, and Progressive Metal should quickly get addicted to this underrated record. Quite variable vocals from darker tones up to hysterical high pitched screams meet melodic guitar solos in tradition of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and some more brutal and modern riffs. The band though chose to open the album with No Friendly Neighbour, one of the worst tracks on the album. It opens with electronic beats that soon heads for a song that permanently changes and lacks of catchy or at least coherent passages. Musically, the song might be appealing but its a too complicated piece to kick a record off with. Most of the other songs are much easier to digest and once you have passed over this weird track, youll have a reward in form of a diversified and energizing release. The first highlight is the single No Place like Home with a crazy and diversified vocal performance leading to an unforgettable chorus. The song structure is quite vivid and hectic but this time the experiment fits. The riffs are sharp and immediately make your head bang. The guitar solo should please to any fan of traditional metal music and is definitely a signature work by Adrian Smith. The band shows us a completely different side with the upcoming tracks I See Lights and also Bright as a Fire. These songs are a lot slower and quite heavy. The bass guitar has its more dominating parts in these tracks. The vocals are low and brutal but transmit a lot of negative emotions. Another highlight comes along with the slow and minimalist Tortured Tone that makes me think of a dark Grunge Rock track of the nineties and that definitely has some single potential. After some distorted and mean background vocals that duel with the dark main vocals, the chorus has a perfect mixture of a hopeful and desperate feeling and even makes me think of a modern In Flames track. As you can see, the band doesnt hesitate to try out new things and leaves the ordinary paths by putting a lot of emotions in everything they try out. Another example is the short and quite weird poetic interlude As Tears Come Falling from the Sky featuring multiple foreground and background vocals and some weird sound experiments Voivod would be proud of. The following title track Awoken Broken hits in a similar vein and is probably the most progressive one on the entire release and especially impresses with some eerie sound experiments and an unusual guitar solo in its middle part. The track though requests a lot of attention as well as multiple tries and is one of the hardest songs to digest on here. The only problem with this release is that the album falls a little bit off towards the end as some ideas feel a little bit repetitive and the tracks get less catchy or impressive. While some tracks are quite addicting right from the start, most songs need a lot of time to grow while other ones even fail to so and might be cited as stinkers but dont worry as there arent too many on here in the end. In the end, this album is still one of the most interesting experiments of the year and features a couple of truly solid and diversified songs. Its far from perfection but without a doubt a quite unique sound experience. I would recommend this release to open minded metal fans that dont mind a modern sound and some influences coming from often despised genres such as Alternative Metal or Grunge. Before purchasing this release, you should definitely give a few songs a shot to decide if you are able to stand the quite unique and emotional vocals that are definitely the most stunning trademark of this album. In my humble opinion, this record is one of the years first highlights and definitely has its place in my top twenty of the year.

Track list:
1. No Friendly Neighbour
2. No Place Like Home
3. I See Lights
4. Bright As A Fire
5. Savage World
6. Tortured Tone
7. White Sheet Robes
8. As Tears Come Falling From The Sky
9. Awoken Broken
10. Search For Bliss
11. Snake Ladders
12. Mirror And The Moon