Is this the best new metal band on these shores?
In one of his many barmy pronouncements Gene Simmons has apparently decided that Kiss can carry on without any original members, and people will instead play the parts of the band when the current lot get too old to do so.
Iron Maiden, it seems, have decided the metal conveyor belt should keep producing in a much more fun and productive way. They just get their kids to do it. You’ve got Adrian Smith’s lad Dylan in The Wild Lies, Bruce’s kids are fronting just about every up and coming metalcore band there is – whether its Austin in the brilliant As Lions, or Griffin in Shvpes – now though, the Harris clan is getting in the act and Steve’s son George’s lot The Raven Age (he’s one of the guitarists) are releasing their debut record.
And, without wishing to go too far overboard, they are the best of the lot, and although you don’t always like to use such glib phrases, they might also be the best of the new breed of British Metallers full stop.
Anyone who saw their recent performances supporting Anthrax couldn’t fail to be impressed. They had come on in enormous bounds since their shows with Harris snr’s “other” band British Lion.
The record, now it’s here, seems to suggest their possibilities are verging on the limitless.
First of all it sounds phenomenal. Working with top level knob twiddler Matt Hyde makes that almost a given, but just like while having a dad in the best band in the world gives you a head start, you still need talent to make the most of it – and that is where TRA really score, because “Darkness Will Rise” is a quite brilliant modern metal record.
Walking the line just perfectly between being cool enough to get the Metal Hammer reading kids onside, and being old school enough to get their dads looking up from Classic Rock, songs like “Promised Land” meld those two worlds perfectly. And as the huge opening riff kicks in, there is little doubt that this is pretty special.
“Age Of The Raven” has the same arena bothering sensibilities as Avenged Sevenfold might as singer William Burrough does a mighty job. “The Death March” should see the moshpits open up all over the world in due course, thanks largely to the whiplash drumming of Jai Patel.
Ambitious too, this is not a band with potential. This is a great metal band. “Salem’s Fate” is an almost prog metal thing, stretching out at nearly eight minutes. Debut records aren’t supposed to sound like this, but sometimes you can forget the rulebook.
Midway through the record – and this is a lengthy tome – there is a track that really exemplifies this record. “Eye Among The Blind” is an excoriation of religion, but it is the guitar work of Harris and Dan Wright that elevates this, carrying it off into another realm altogether.
“Wind Of Change” finds a sensitive side, and like the rest here it benefits from the vocals being clean, which gives weight to the argument that The Raven Age are in it for the long haul. “My Revenge” has a suitable sense of foreboding and there’s a maturity about the huge “The Dying Embers Of Life” that seems to come naturally.
Moments of genuine heaviness abound too, “Angel In Disgrace” is very nearly thrash in its posturing, and the eight minute force of nature that is the closing song “Behind The Mask” almost acts as a reprise for every idea that has been brimming throughout.
All of which leads to only one conclusion. this isn’t just another young band to keep any eye on. “Darkness Will Rise” proves The Raven Age is the band to watch.
Rating 9/10
