Risen Prophecy - Self Titled (3.5/5)

When Risen Prophecy were first interviewed on our show they were an out and out thrash act. So I was surprised when I popped this CD in and found that its largely British Heavy Metal inspired tracks.

There aren’t very many traditional acts of this kind around at the moment since its somewhat of a specialist niche, but if Risen Prophecy are looking to revive the genre they’re doing a very good job!

Risen Prophecy formed back in 2005 and released their first two track EP however this is all together quite a different beast. The album itself features 8 songs totalling an hour in running time.

You can really hear the influences of bands like Judas Priest, Iced Earth and Blitzkrieg coming through strongly. You can’t help but wonder how influential touring and playing shows with Blitzkrieg has been since some of the songs sound like they could have been on ‘Theater of the Damned’. In particular tracks like ‘Protect The Boarder’ and ‘Screaming For Death’.

Although not strictly a concept album the songs largely focus on warfare, persecution and death similar to Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ album. There are a few Thrash aspects still lurking in this album particularly a lot of the faster guitar work but you do have to listen hard to hear them.

Theres a huge amount of technical precision and great musicianship running throughout the album. James Charlton’s drumming is a particular stand out along with many of the solos performed by Ross Oliver. Its easy to forget at times that its just a four piece outfit and they’re able to achieve a sound thats as good as any of the classic British Heavy Metal acts.

This is incredibly ambitious for a first release but its not without its problematic points. I would have liked to have heard more tracks I thought were distinctly Risen Prophecy. Also some tracks are a little too long at points, somehow they occasionally lack the succinctness of shorter songs. Its interesting to hear such a dynamic vocal range from Dan Tyrens I particularly like ‘Sins of the Fathers’ although on some songs the very high pitched lines don’t really work.

I personally think that the real test for these songs is how they fare live in comparison to their studio recorded counterparts. Despite its problems Risen Prophecy is an enjoyable album to listen to, it makes me really excited to hear what they’ll release next and how they’ll develop as a band.

Genre : Metal / British Heavy Metal