WiszdomStone
Rise
2009
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Everybody has those CDs that are their go-to CDs. You know, the ones you never get tired of, the ones that you listen to, just to listen to something. One of mine is "Rise" by Wisconsonian band WiszdomStone. Wisconsin is the home of some well known alt bands such as Garbage, The Violent Femmes and The BoDeans. NO NO NO - DON'T PASS ME OVER, they can now be known for some killer metal!
WiszdomStone is an American power metal band out of the Milwaukee area. Ray Luokka, guitar, and Brian Noonan, drums, are the creative core of the group. They've been in bands together off and on for many years. Now that they are all grown up, they created Wiszdom Stone as a creative outlet for themselves.
"Rise" has an awesome foundation. It has the melodic heaviness of Judas Priest's "Screaming for Vengeance" and "Defenders of the Faith". It also has some modern flair of Kamelot and Avantasia. Speaking of Kamelot, Casey Grillo steps behind the kit for one of the tunes! The vocals are tackled by André Beaudot, who has a great metal voice. It is gruff (not McGruff) when it needs to be, and can really soar, such as on the opening track "Rise". No good band would be complete without a tight rhythm section, and WiszdomStone has a great rhythm section. Great double bass work and great drum fills, with a bass tone that is solid, deep, and thundering.
The guitar tone is very raw sounding. In some small way, it reminds me of a cross between "Shout at the Devil" by Motley Crüe and "To Hell with the Devil" by Stryper. It put me off at first because I am so used to the polished (sometimes too polished) sound of current releases, but I soon came to love it. The sound is perfect for them. Besides, the raw sound of the guitar is excellent! I really like that it shreds when it needs to shred and is heavy and melodic when it needs to be heavy and melodic. Simply, it is smart and skillful playing. The song "Floods and Fires" is bone crunching in a good way, and "Without Faith" and "Take This Cup" are heavy. Their single for "Unforgiven" is very accessible to the uninitiated and you can view the video for it below.
From top to bottom, "Rise", by WiszdomStone is a awesome CD. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I have.
Live Long and Rock Hard,
SpaceKev
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SpaceKev's Rating: 9.0 out of 10
Don't be a dork and follow the link in the YouTube video, just listen to the song and enjoy it.
1 comment:
I hope other people are digging on this, because I hadn't heard this group before and I definitely appreciate this!
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