Released: 2008
Before this I was only aware of Argument Soul through seeing them live at a single show they played in Sydney supporting Dungeon a few years back. Not even the language barrier stopped these Japanese lads from entertaining the crowd with some solid, energetic heavy metal.
If song titles like "To Shine Your Life" and "Belief Will Never Betray You" are anything to go by, Argument Soul's grasp of English has not changed much, but neither has their knowledge of fuel-injected power/thrash. Argument Soul take the heavy, overdriven American style of power metal like Iced Earth or Jag Panzer and mix it with the screaming high-pitched vocals of the European kind. Some of the notes Toshinori Kamiya hits in "Destiny" in particular are ridiculously high in fact and he's guilty of over-singing on quite a few occasions. This tends to let the album down a little because really high singers need to be excellent to not become annoying after a few minutes and Kamiya simply isn't that good. Fortunately the rest of Argument Soul save Conflict of Crisis from that drawer in my CD cabinet reserved for things I never want to hear again. To be fair, when Kamiya isn't trying to sing his tonsils through the roof, he's a fairly good mid-range tenor.
Conflict of Crisis is a mixture of scorching thrash-tinged songs and slower, more epic power metal. The opening two tracks are fantastic speed metal, catchy and heavy and bristling with guitar violence. Kamiya goes a bit off the rails in the choruses of the second, but otherwise this is a killer way to kick off an album. The next couple of songs are more in the traditional power metal vein and after the fury of the opening barrage sound a bit lifeless. "Overcome All" however has more of an epic feel and is better and the album really stays on track throughout. Argument Soul mix up savage thrash riffing and more melodic aspects very well, leading up to the dramatic "Live in the Feeling of Love" that stands as a real highlight with a nice range of vocal styles on display, an extended, progressive arrangement and even a short acoustic section amongst Yoshiyasu Maruyama and Kenichi Teraoka's blazing guitar mayhem.
Argument Soul don't break any conventions but they take a wealth of influences and mould them into a solid individual style that has resulted into a pretty staunch second album that is remarkably free of fluff and typical generic cliches. Turn it up.
Before this I was only aware of Argument Soul through seeing them live at a single show they played in Sydney supporting Dungeon a few years back. Not even the language barrier stopped these Japanese lads from entertaining the crowd with some solid, energetic heavy metal.
If song titles like "To Shine Your Life" and "Belief Will Never Betray You" are anything to go by, Argument Soul's grasp of English has not changed much, but neither has their knowledge of fuel-injected power/thrash. Argument Soul take the heavy, overdriven American style of power metal like Iced Earth or Jag Panzer and mix it with the screaming high-pitched vocals of the European kind. Some of the notes Toshinori Kamiya hits in "Destiny" in particular are ridiculously high in fact and he's guilty of over-singing on quite a few occasions. This tends to let the album down a little because really high singers need to be excellent to not become annoying after a few minutes and Kamiya simply isn't that good. Fortunately the rest of Argument Soul save Conflict of Crisis from that drawer in my CD cabinet reserved for things I never want to hear again. To be fair, when Kamiya isn't trying to sing his tonsils through the roof, he's a fairly good mid-range tenor.
Conflict of Crisis is a mixture of scorching thrash-tinged songs and slower, more epic power metal. The opening two tracks are fantastic speed metal, catchy and heavy and bristling with guitar violence. Kamiya goes a bit off the rails in the choruses of the second, but otherwise this is a killer way to kick off an album. The next couple of songs are more in the traditional power metal vein and after the fury of the opening barrage sound a bit lifeless. "Overcome All" however has more of an epic feel and is better and the album really stays on track throughout. Argument Soul mix up savage thrash riffing and more melodic aspects very well, leading up to the dramatic "Live in the Feeling of Love" that stands as a real highlight with a nice range of vocal styles on display, an extended, progressive arrangement and even a short acoustic section amongst Yoshiyasu Maruyama and Kenichi Teraoka's blazing guitar mayhem.
Argument Soul don't break any conventions but they take a wealth of influences and mould them into a solid individual style that has resulted into a pretty staunch second album that is remarkably free of fluff and typical generic cliches. Turn it up.
- Conflict of Crisis
- Destiny
- Come Across Our Souls
- Memory
- Overcome All
- Belief Never Betrays You
- Samsara
- To Shine Your Life
- Live in the Feeling of Love
- October 14
- Memoirs of Life
Rating: 72%
They're playing with Dreadnaught pretty soon. Rockin'.
ReplyDeleteYeah that gig should rule.
ReplyDelete