Bloodrock":fyhyzisv said:
Good stuff. City of Evil was amazing. I thought they totally phoned it in on Hail to the King. Glad to see they're putting more effort into the new album.
Agreed. Hail to the King seemed lazy and half-assed by their standards. There just wasn't anything special or inspired on that album. I'm really hoping that this is a close indication of what the rest of their new album sounds like. It's more like City of Evil, which is exactly what I had hoped for.
I read somewhere that this is a rough mix and that this version of the song isn't final; that would make sense, because some of the levels and transitions seem a bit off to me, as if it wasn't 100% mastered.
That being said, I've listened to the song a lot and it's definitely grown on me. They've gotten out of the box a bit more and started being adventurous rather than safe again. I mean, what band has an eight and a half minute song as their first single? Plus, this one doesn't sound as "radio friendly" as the songs on Hail to the King (you can tell how much I like that album). Shadows' voice does seem a bit strained, and I have concerns about him going forward as he injured it years ago and he is getting older. The guitar playing is amazing though; they've definitely returned to that melodic minor shredding that they do so well. Loved the Spanish guitar outro, reminded me of Sidewinder. Brooks Wackerman, their new drummer, killed it on this track too, and they seem to be gelling pretty well with him as opposed to Arin Ilejay, who always seemed to be out of place.
But what takes the cake is the music video, which helps explain this song so much musically. It's almost like they wrote the song for the video, rather than vice versa. Spoiler alert: Hillary makes an appearance at the end, and not in a good way.