Hailing from Philadelphia, Stygian is a band with a 10 year history, starting out by their own admission as school friends with a mutual admiration of Metallica. Even with a decade of playing, that influence still comes through strongly in terms of the riffing, and the Hetfield like vocals of front man Frank Leary. Trust me, that’s not necessarily a criticism; few metal bands can say they’ve not been influenced by such a massive act in some way or another, and if it means good musicianship and vocals that aren’t incomprehensible screams and grunts, you’re going to win points with me.
Opener ‘Suffer Patiently’, with it’s angry snarling vocals, heavy riffs, time changes, and fast solo demonstrates just how much of an influence 90’s thrash are on the act, and in the title track, ‘Fury Rising’ a bit of Dimebag’s trademark guitar squeals are thrown into the mix. Again, this is not a bad thing, as no matter what subgenre of metal and rock floats your boat, few can argue the superlative work of that late lamented guitar hero. The trouble is, after a few listens, I found myself less listening to the album as a new work, as thinking about what old CD I’m going to pull out from my collection. ‘Crimson Sand’, with discord guitar solo and layered vocals sounded like it had been written after a day listening to Disturbed, whilst ‘The Fear’ and ‘Last Redemption’ have Alice and Chains written all over them.
When the band go into ballad mode, with the ‘Unforgiven’ influenced ‘My Regret’, at the start of the track vocalist Frank Leary can be heard clearly missing his notes; I admit, I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, but this should have been picked up in the recording process, which would have given the otherwise polished track a greater consistency.
Undoubtedly, Stygian can play their guitars, and the rhythm section of Mike Stewart and Steve Bacchia power the band on solidly. It is just a shame that this ability has been tied down to emulating others, rather then developing their own sound, and with a decade of playing they should have more of a distinctive style. Yes, I did find myself nodding along to the tracks as they played, and I did grin massively to ‘Unstrung Hero’, a direct dig at Guitar Hero and its assorted clones, and those who pose with their plastic controllers, basking in the adulation of a computerised crowd. Sadly though, there was more potential here then achievement, and there was just not enough on this album to jump out and grab me that would ever see it getting regular rotation on my stereo.
http://www.myspace.com/stygianrock
http://www.stygianrock.com
