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Plenty of potential, both utilized and hidden.-
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| The 11th Hour: Burden of Grief |
Death Metal, Doom Metal
Napalm Records
October 2009
- One Last Smoke - 6:44
- In the Silent Grave - 8:22
- Origins of Mourning - 11:13
- Weep for Me - 8:52
- Atonement - 7:44
- Longing for Oblivion - 9:40
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| Review Information |
Release length: 52:35
Review posted on April 30th, 2010
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| | Original Score: 4/5 |
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| 2011 Grading Scale: 7.5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Burder of Grief (2009)
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| Review |
When Burden of Grief dropped, The 11th Hour was comprised of just two members handling everything on the album. Rogga Johansson, known for his time with many Metal acts such as Edge of Sanity and Paganizer, handled the vocals for this album, while Ed Warby, most noted for his time spent in Gorefest and Hail of Bullets among many others, composed and performed all the music, as well as additional vocals. Even though this seems to be more like Ed's solo project, it winds up being more of a two member supergroup. But, with this talent in place, one can only expect a solid effort put forth on their Napalm Records debut album, which is exactly what the listeners get.
Burden of Grief is an exceptional Doom Metal act that flawlessly mixes some Death Metal influences from certain riffs on the album, to gutteral vocal utilization against singing vocals that sound a bit back of the throat without the rhasp that just adds to the overall ambience and emotion found on this release, but perfectly pitched with this music to give it a Hard Rock feel. While this isn't anything too jaw droppingly spectacular, it's well composed, heavy, and doesn't leave the listener feeling like they've been listening to the same repetative riffs on tracks that go on for hours with no end in sight. Right from the start with "One Last Smoke", the listener will realize that there is something special about this release, but it's not until "Origins of Mourning" that the band really shines, only because of the length of the track. While "One Last Smoke" is a phenomenal track, it doesn't show the band's ability to hook the listener and keep him or her attentive for long periods of time thanks to the song's just over eleven minute length and ability to keep the track flowing the entire time, even during the bridging keyboards that add a beautiful, yet melancholic feeling to the song.
While this release is a solid one, there's nothing too spectacular or over the top. Some of the music on here comes off a bit generic and simple at times, such as during "Weep for Me", which really is the only song on this release you might wind up sidetracked by something else while listening to it. The song itself isn't bad, coming at you with a very slow speed that really focuses on the more Progressive-sounding clean singing vocals and keyboards that seem to be accompanied through some of the album by the drums and guitars. Normally this isn't bad, but a little more complexity other then changing from keyboards to guitars and drums and back again would have been nice. Even with the keyboards used for the verses, had the band focused on making the music a little more fluid then just jumping back and forth from keyboards to heaviness, or taking a page from the track "Longing for Oblivion", it could have been a great album. While the concept for the song is obvious, it just lacks the same kick the rest of the material has to offer on this album, giving off more of a Progressive Doom atmosphere in the vain of Opeth, but a little weaker.
But, even with those few problems, The 11th Hour's debut album Burden of Grief is an excellent album that fans of Doom Metal will simply eat up thanks to the material not being too over the top or too deep into depressive materials that typically will ruin a Doom album by being too repetative and slow. While it could have used a little more complexity, there is still enough music in the fifty plus minutes that make up these six tracks to keep you listening from start to finish without a problem, as well as on further playthroughs, making this a very impressive debut from a band that you would expect no less of. Hopefully, this is not just a random one-time project that will only release one full-length, and we'll see more output from the band in the near future, as there is great potential here that still has not been tapped by this act yet.
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