The Silent Rage - Harvester Of Souls

The Silent Rage

Harvester Of Souls

2011

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The Silent Rage is a power metal band out of Greece, and if you know me, you already know my typical take on heavy and power metal coming out of this region. However, I'm always an optimist and was fully willing to give the band a shot with their brand new EP, Harvester Of Souls. The album art (classic black rider straight out of LOTR- classy!) and track listing piqued my interest; it didn't seem to be quite the wimpy sort of stuff that some other local groups are putting out.

A few built-in flaws to excuse on this EP include the mixing, the mastery of the English language, and the occasional redundancy of some of the guitar rhythm lines. I was led to believe that this was a fairly melodic power metal album in the European style, but it certainly shares a good deal with the heavy-hitting USPM school as well. In fact, I'd say it leans towards a few tendencies of classy US power metal a bit stronger, especially in the vocal department, with some of the yells that are present. The title track and "Perished in Flames" are both prime examples of less melodic riffing and darker sounding power metal. Though I'm not a great aficionado of this school, it seems rather well done, and provides a good listen.

More to my interest are the more lead-heavy and melodic tracks like "Inner Scars" and "Leading the Legion", both of which feature considerably more memorable and melodic choruses, which vocalist Dionisis Kontis adapts to quite readily (in fact, I believe that he fits this style better, but I am biased). It is worth noting that the "harsh" vocals on this album are more of a hoarse yell, which in context, works rather well. There are a couple of great roars which get your blood pumping and head nodding quite readily.

For those quite keen on the mixture of more aggressive melodic Euro-power with the rougher edged USPM school at a moderate tempo, this is a tasty little nugget with only a slight amateurish edge. Even the hardcore melodic Euro-power fans like myself can find a good deal to appreciate here. Playing this energetic and harder edged style of power metal in Greece is a smart approach, and maybe Silent Rage will rock the guitars out of a few of the legion of poor to mediocre bands from the country. Check this one out, it shows real promise and a knack for balancing melody and sharpness.

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The Protagonist's Rating: 7.25 out of 10