DEADRISEN-DeadRisen

AFM Records

February 27, 2020 by Michel van de Moosdijk - More about our team

DeadRisen is a new formation formed by bass player Mike LePond (Symphony X/Ross The Boss) and guitarist Rod Rivera (Rivera/Bomma). The best move they made in my opinion was adding singer Will Shaw to the line-up that further has spots for Tony Stahl (keyboards) and drummer Dan Prestup. I looked up Will Shaw on Facebook and on his page there are a bunch of covers that he did and the range that the man showcases is mind blowing. He is a jack of all trades, someone that can sing everything in the metal genre. And that quality is something that Rivera and LePond as producers and main songwriters have used to the maximum on the first CD of DeadRisen. The ten tracks (including the short intro ,,Risen Death’’) have that much variation and mood swings that listening to the escapades of this band is a pure joy. They switch styles as they see fit, from robust heavy metal, to a progressive metal style, a tiny portion of thrash and more basic melodic metal. The only song that does not do it for me is their cover of Metallica’s ,,For Whom The Bell Tolls’’, as it misses the grittiness that Metallica (read James Hetfield) display on that epic song. But everything in between the intro and the cover is at stages extremely impressive. ,,The Maker’’ is a hard paced heavy metal song with Shaw blasting it out and then halfway through the song Rivera comes in with a flamenco guitar part that is mind blowing. A trick he later repeats in the song ,,Reach For The Sun’’. Another track that kills it is called ,,Chains Of Time’’, based on a cast iron riff and Will Shaw’s enormous reach. This guy really can sing, high, low, fast, melodic, you name it and he does it. Sometimes he loves to go over the top as well where it is not always necessary perhaps (,,Chains Of Time’’) but all in all his vocals are very impressive as are some of the arrangements the band has put together. Rivera is an impressive guitarist while the keys are in some songs really out there as well. Rivera and LePond have really outdone themselves on the production as the sound is at times hard as nails and right in your face yet with a good eye for melody. This is an album for the heavy metal fan who wants to hear variety go hand in hand with pure metal. I mean, the intro of ,,Visions’’, could have been written by the late great Phil Lynott. It is just another stunning example of what DeadRisen is capable to do as it is a peach of a song. Obviously this is a record that I must recommend as this band has the guts and the capability to do it different than the rest.