Massacre Records
2009
1. War
2. Arise
3. Asgard
4. Odin
5. Runes
6. Bolverk
7. Thor
8. Evil
9. Loki
10. Prelude
11. Ragnarok
12. Einherjar
Rebellion are a band who I've enjoyed everything they've done up to this point so this new album was a sure listen for me. I wouldn't call them a favorite band exactly, but not every band can be at the top. What I would call Rebellion is very enjoyable and I've particularly liked the epic and heavy slant of their History of the Vikings trilogy up to this point.
Arise basically follows the same sort of formula as the last couple, but it does seem to favor an even more direct and heavy approach than the other two in the trilogy. It seems like this one just kinda hammers away and doesn't have a lot of the cleaner singing, standout epic choruses, variation, or really memorability. There's never a time in this album where I don't like what I'm listening to but there are a whole lot fewer albums where I love it. Basically, what I'm hitting at is this album is lacking in highlights and seems to settle into a sort of business as usual trend. The one huge exception is the title track Arise which I absolutely love. Unfortunately it is the exception though and not the rule. If all the songs were on the level of Arise with it's great melodies and piano lead in then this review would be a different story. Prelude is also worthy of mention as having a pretty solid build up to a nice heavy sounding chorus.
The bottom line is this is pretty good, but less than I expected. I don't see this one as a top shelf release, but nor do I think it's not worthy of a listen. If you're into heavy epic metal in the vein of the epic fantasy/history era of Grave Digger than this is worth giving a listen.
Highlights: Arise, Prelude
Rating - 3.0/5
2. Arise
3. Asgard
4. Odin
5. Runes
6. Bolverk
7. Thor
8. Evil
9. Loki
10. Prelude
11. Ragnarok
12. Einherjar
Rebellion are a band who I've enjoyed everything they've done up to this point so this new album was a sure listen for me. I wouldn't call them a favorite band exactly, but not every band can be at the top. What I would call Rebellion is very enjoyable and I've particularly liked the epic and heavy slant of their History of the Vikings trilogy up to this point.
Arise basically follows the same sort of formula as the last couple, but it does seem to favor an even more direct and heavy approach than the other two in the trilogy. It seems like this one just kinda hammers away and doesn't have a lot of the cleaner singing, standout epic choruses, variation, or really memorability. There's never a time in this album where I don't like what I'm listening to but there are a whole lot fewer albums where I love it. Basically, what I'm hitting at is this album is lacking in highlights and seems to settle into a sort of business as usual trend. The one huge exception is the title track Arise which I absolutely love. Unfortunately it is the exception though and not the rule. If all the songs were on the level of Arise with it's great melodies and piano lead in then this review would be a different story. Prelude is also worthy of mention as having a pretty solid build up to a nice heavy sounding chorus.
The bottom line is this is pretty good, but less than I expected. I don't see this one as a top shelf release, but nor do I think it's not worthy of a listen. If you're into heavy epic metal in the vein of the epic fantasy/history era of Grave Digger than this is worth giving a listen.
Highlights: Arise, Prelude
Rating - 3.0/5
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