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Artist: Watchmen |
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South America has always been
a haven for great Metal bands both Thrash and Power Metal, but few bands
seem to embrace the Melodic and Hard Rock genres. Here we have a band that is
going to set a new precedence are Argentina’s 'Watchmen'.
The band deliver some of the best Melodic Hard rock I’ve heard this year, with driven guitar solos, great melodies and rhythms and a monster back beat. But the main attraction is the fantastic vocals of frontman Ivan Sencion who delivers a soulful punch, which can only be compared to 50% Coverdale, 25% Ronnie James Dio and 25% Joe Lynn Turner, I mean this guy has one hell of set of vocal pipes on him. This new sensation from South America have their hearts stead fast in the 80’s band culture but deliver it with a more modern energized sound. This is felt from the opener ’Take Me Higher’ where Sencion just explodes from the off and with the excellent guitar work from Emmanuel Lopez, the band are an instant winner. The high quality Hard Rock continues with the thundering anthemic tones of ‘Hang On’, again the guitars of Lopez dominate this great rocking track as well as the majestic tones of Sencion. It's rocking all the way as the album continues with a slice of great Melodic Rock in ‘One Step From Heaven’. This is where Sencion shows those JLT tones, this song is just sheer class. The phrase all killer no filler is thrown around a lot by bands today, but not all of them live up to this promise, but believe me this album is full of great tunes and melodies. If you can find a filler on this album then your a better man than me! As the album continues with one of my many favourites off the album ‘Safe’, this is where the keyboards of Leonardo Palmieri come into their own, as they act as the perfect back drop to Sencion’s superb vocals on this great Power Ballad. The pace is picked straight back up with the hard rocking ‘Not Enough’ and the riff laden ‘Time Is Over’, my favourite of all the hard rockers on the album. A great up tempo rocker that will have you rocking in the aisles from the opening chords, just classic big balls rockin’ at its best. The band delve into their past influences with the almost Whitesnake tones of ‘Livin’ The Heartache’, featuring another stirring vocal from Sencion which totally seals this one. Then it's a complete change with the bluesy rock tones of seven minute epic ‘Wings Of Thunder’, a real tour-de-force this one. Another stand out performance by Sencion although the whole band really give their all on this one, from the soaring guitars of Lopez and keys of Palmeri, to the thumping backbeat of Germain Leth on the bass and skin thumping of Dukke, this is a real band track where each member plays an integral part. The big tracks just keep on coming, this time the six minute plus rock spectacle that is ‘Man In A Hole’ before the final track on this superb album ‘On The Road’, a full throttle hard rock attack which rounds off a great debut from a band with a big future.
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Tracklisting:
1. Take Me Higher
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All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |
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