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Holy Grail - Ride The Void review



Reviewer:
6.5

53 users:
7.4
Band: Holy Grail
Album: Ride The Void
Release date: January 2013


01. Archeus
02. Bestia Triumphans
03. Dark Passenger
04. Bleeding Stone
05. Ride The Void
06. Too Decayed To Wait
07. Crosswinds
08. Take It To The Grave
09. Sleep Of Virtue
10. Silence The Scream
11. The Great Artifice
12. Wake Me When It's Over
13. Rains Of Sorrow

To quote the MS user Killer Wolf who rated this a 9:
Quote:
I can't believe [Ride The Void] only gets a 7.7 on this site while heinous garbage like Diablo Swing Orchestra gets consistent ratings above 8.2. Can you believe this shit?
In MY opinion, you people on metalstorm.net need to clean the shit out of your ears.

After checking WebMD a bunch, wondering what's causing my eye to occasionally twitch and my cough to linger, having "shit in your ears" consistently popped up as one of the first responses. After a recent panic-ridden check-up, I was relieved to learn from my doctor that my ears are near 100 percent feces-free--a source of some pride in my hometown, considering all its Tyga fans. This album seems to not be green number material for other reasons.

It's not a bad listen, I can definitely get behind this style of revivalist NWOBHM-worship sometimes, but this thing motivated me to throw on the classics that influenced it more than it made me want to keep it spinning--not a bad thing, I suppose, but on face value it isn't the first thing an album should do.

Granted, this doesn't sound like it was made for purely nostalgic purposes, a plus for sure. Problem is, a lot of its potential power is squandered by 1) the length of the album as a whole, it's too long and never feels concise enough, and 2) the overly clean mix. It's all performed well (the guitar work, in particular, is really impressive), but tracks frequently come out lacking in the personality departments.

After catching these guys a while back with 3 Inches Of Blood, I'll vouch for the fact that they're the sort of group worth seeing live. The kind of energy they summon on stage is simply missing on this. It's a fun enough kind of album, but shaking the feeling that it's not nearly as good as these guys could make it is tough. They're talented musicians, but Ride The Void just couldn't keep me interested.





Written on 15.03.2013 by Wormdrink's real name is George and he's an American.


Comments

Comments: 9   Visited by: 191 users
16.03.2013 - 05:05
bard

Did you feel the same way about their first album?
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16.03.2013 - 05:47
wormdrink414

Written by bard on 16.03.2013 at 05:05

Did you feel the same way about their first album?

Think I did, listened to a bit of it a long time ago and didn't have any strong response.
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16.03.2013 - 13:05
Nemo Atkins

I'm with the reviewer on this one: the album suffers from being too long and the production, whilst very good, seemed a little too polished for what they were playing (I know, strange complaint, but I couldn't help being more interested in how clear the production was than the music at points). I also don't think any of the material after "Dark Passenger" was particularly noteworthy (pun not intended), as I can't remember anything of it despite multiple listens. Although, since I had the same problem with the debut, it might just be that I'm not fond of Holy Grail's style.

I do think these guys are great musicians, though, and "Bestia Triumphans" is definitely going to be one of my favourite tracks of the year.
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16.03.2013 - 18:20
Rating: 10
Darken Rahl

I disagree. This and the one before it are great albums 10/10 for me. Love it!
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16.03.2013 - 18:37
UnknownCheese

This band is sort of average, but he's definitely right about DSO.
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16.03.2013 - 18:48
qlacs
"The Quaker"
Agree with you that the sound does not reflect the nostalgic meaning of it, that's a problem with the first album as well, it's like the whole thing is inbetween the 80's and today. But the fact that the songs are quite well composed (not as good as the real classics but they do a really good job ) does not let me rate Holy Grail this low.
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16.03.2013 - 19:21
Mattybu

Interesting review although I would bet the album (to ME) is a little better than you would give it credit for. The thing I found is that paragraph 4 was actually the only paragraph that said anything about the music and was brief in describing it at that. Elsewhere the only info I could really gather was that it is "NWOBHM-worship"... SO I think the value of this album really depends on whether or not someone is going to immediately dismiss it for being derivative or whatever or if someone can just sit down and enjoy it for what it is. Not that a 6.5 is bad but I'm willing to bet it's catchy and fun as shit, or would be to me, cause i'ont give uh fuck.

Keep in mind I haven't heard it yet so I could be 100% certified grade AAA angus wrong
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17.03.2013 - 19:37
sbgmetal

meh Alex should have really gone to a different band...
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18.03.2013 - 10:59
Rating: 8
Jujitsu-man
Ready to ROCK
Definitely not better than the first album, and I agree with the review in the fact that the album length is more than desired, and also the fact than there isn't any track that stands out enough from the others to be a good single (in my opinion) is another negative thing.

But this review isn't very explanatory with the very very low rating it gives to the album. I mean, you can see those negative facts in many other albums in history and you would bring them maybe a 7.5 or more if the composing and recording is good. It's not fair to underrate a good album like this one only because the style is not catchy to you.

In my opinion, and I consider myself a very good Holy Grail's fan, this album fairly desires at least 7.5 points. If I where more subjective with it I probably would bring it more than 8, because I really enjoyed listening to it, but also understand is my point of view, and not all the people could pass over the obvious lacks of the album.
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