Massacre Records
2012
1. Rest In Peace
2. Ala Germanica
3. Prince Of The Cheruscer
4. Dusk Awaiting Dawn
5. Breeding Hate
6. The Seerless Tower
7. Varus
8. The Tribes United
9. Ghost Of Freedom
10. Furor Teutonicus
11. Vae Victis
12. Requiem
Rebellion are a band I've pretty much enjoyed from the beginning. I can't say they've ever really earned favorite status or been a Top album producer for me, but not every band can be the best band in the scene. What I have enjoyed is Uwe Lulis continuing the sort of epic flair he largely brought to Grave Digger with a new band. There in lies my cause for concern with Arminius though. Uwe Lulis, Simon Wenzel and Gerd Lucking all left the band between the last album and this one. Major lineup changes are generally a cause for concern and this is certainly no exception. A founder and songwriter leaving is particularly concerning.
Well, not many bands can survive a change like this I suppose and I'd put Rebellion in the 'on life support' category. This isn't terrible, but it's pretty average for the most part. Too often the riffs just kind of chug along with no energy, the choruses aren't sufficiently epic or powerful, and few of the songs are all that memorable. From the start, Rest In Peace, creeps along like the band has been hit by tranquilizer darts. Not sure who decided to put such a plodding, zero energy track as an album opener, but that was a pretty bad call. Then again, most of this album does settle into kind of a low energy pace that is to it's detriment.
Arminius does have some (minor) moments like the good singing in The Seerless Tower that makes it a bit more epic sounding and the pure heaviness of Breeding Hate, but all in all the album falls short. Even these are more the best of the bunch than true highlights when judged versus their past material. I just can't find a lot to be excited about in the songwriting and Arminius, despite somewhat similar lyrical content, fails to be as epic as the Viking trilogy. A similar sound and approach just can't cover up the lack of truly noteworthy songs.
Rebellion are just left on uncertain ground after the loss of Uwe Lulis and this album. Arminius isn't a very memorable album and Rebellion sounds like a band without a songwriter. This might be worth it if you Really want something new in the Rebellion/Grave Digger vein, but I wouldn't really recommend this one.
Highlights: The Seerless Tower, Breeding Hate
Rating - 2.5/5
2. Ala Germanica
3. Prince Of The Cheruscer
4. Dusk Awaiting Dawn
5. Breeding Hate
6. The Seerless Tower
7. Varus
8. The Tribes United
9. Ghost Of Freedom
10. Furor Teutonicus
11. Vae Victis
12. Requiem
Rebellion are a band I've pretty much enjoyed from the beginning. I can't say they've ever really earned favorite status or been a Top album producer for me, but not every band can be the best band in the scene. What I have enjoyed is Uwe Lulis continuing the sort of epic flair he largely brought to Grave Digger with a new band. There in lies my cause for concern with Arminius though. Uwe Lulis, Simon Wenzel and Gerd Lucking all left the band between the last album and this one. Major lineup changes are generally a cause for concern and this is certainly no exception. A founder and songwriter leaving is particularly concerning.
Well, not many bands can survive a change like this I suppose and I'd put Rebellion in the 'on life support' category. This isn't terrible, but it's pretty average for the most part. Too often the riffs just kind of chug along with no energy, the choruses aren't sufficiently epic or powerful, and few of the songs are all that memorable. From the start, Rest In Peace, creeps along like the band has been hit by tranquilizer darts. Not sure who decided to put such a plodding, zero energy track as an album opener, but that was a pretty bad call. Then again, most of this album does settle into kind of a low energy pace that is to it's detriment.
Arminius does have some (minor) moments like the good singing in The Seerless Tower that makes it a bit more epic sounding and the pure heaviness of Breeding Hate, but all in all the album falls short. Even these are more the best of the bunch than true highlights when judged versus their past material. I just can't find a lot to be excited about in the songwriting and Arminius, despite somewhat similar lyrical content, fails to be as epic as the Viking trilogy. A similar sound and approach just can't cover up the lack of truly noteworthy songs.
Rebellion are just left on uncertain ground after the loss of Uwe Lulis and this album. Arminius isn't a very memorable album and Rebellion sounds like a band without a songwriter. This might be worth it if you Really want something new in the Rebellion/Grave Digger vein, but I wouldn't really recommend this one.
Highlights: The Seerless Tower, Breeding Hate
Rating - 2.5/5
Odd that the band is continuing after Uwe left, I thought it was his band.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to hear some old school sounding GD style metal, I just found out about another old German band called Paragon that somehow got past me all these years. The new one, Force of Destruction, is pretty killer heavy German metal in the vein of old GD and Iron Savior.