Every era of metal seems to have its fair share of trends. One of the biggest currently is where a record label puts together random super-groups full of musicians who really don't have much in common musically, are pathetically past their prime, and hope for the best. The end product often is not the most favorable with the vast majority of these bands. In fact, ever since the concept of placing a plethora of big named musicians in one band began, there have been waves of disappointment from the fan base they are supposed to appeal to. Occasionally however, you will find one though that actually happens to work.
Frontiers Records is one of the record labels that have been trying to shake things up lately in the creation of new bands consisting of established musicians. The acts they sign are often top notch, so in theory a few of them should be great. When it was announced that they contacted Symphony X and Adrenaline Mob front man Russell Allen along with Primal Fear and Voodoo Circle bassist Mat Sinner about forming a project called Level 10 you can imagine the excitement that many felt. Then one begins to think about how diverse, yet occasionally unfavorable some of the projects these musicians have worked with have been. Adrenaline Mob has been catching a considerable amount of flak for being far more like the modern hard rock bands that are on the radio than they are progressive metal masters Symphony X. Sinner's solo work has often been under scrutiny for being considerably more bluesy and less aggressive than Primal Fear. Any worries are more than likely instantly alleviated when we are notified that members of Masterplan, Voodoo Circle, and Primal Fear are also involved in the recording process of the album. In my own opinion Roland Grapow and Alex Beyrodt have the potential to be one of the greatest guitar duos of all time, adding keyboardist Alessandro Del Vecchio and drummer Randy Black only further solidifies the hype that this album emanates. Excitement could not be much higher, so all that is left to do is press play and see what happens.
Immediately I am very much reminded of Whitesnake with the beginning guitar riff of “Cry No More”. This is very understandable seeing that the driving forces behind Voodoo Circle are involved, who have a very hard-rocking yet bluesy vibe to them. Russell Allen isn't singing at the highest of his vocal range, but he is definitely not trying to sing in a harsher voice either. The backing vocals to this track are incredible, but that is also to be expected considering Mat Sinner is one of the best backing vocalists in the business. There is also a brief organ interlude by Del Vecchio that kicks right into a very 80s metal inspired guitar solo that is traded off between the two guitarists. The chorus to this immediately gets stuck and from the first track we already start to believe that the hype of this album, titled Chapter 1, may be real.
The second track “Soul of a Warrior” immediately changes the pace of the album. It’s a bit more down tuned track that actually kind of sounds like one of Symphony X's slower tempo songs off of Paradise Lost. The guitar solo to the song is extremely clean and inspiring, but unfortunately it kicks right back into a rather unmemorable chorus and some riffing that will probably leave your head as soon as the track is over. It’s not a terrible song by any means, but it is definitely considerably different from the opening track already.
One of the first times I begin to notice the lyrics is on “No Turning Back”. They are almost a hybrid of Adrenaline Mob meets hair metal, but in a strange way that doesn't really make much sense. Words like "When the night time comes and the fever burns, that's when I'll come again" are a bit difficult to convey meaning to me and seem like they were haphazardly arranged just to rhyme and to seem catchy. I suppose it worked though, considering the chorus is the quite memorable albeit a tad bit cheesy.
A part of this album that I think many people feared manifests itself in the song “Blasphemy”. The guitar riffs are basic radio rock distortion, the lyrics are a tad bit angsty, and Russell Allen sings them in a relatively pissed off way similar to the tone he takes in much of Adrenaline Mob's material. There is just far too much distortion to this for me to personally enjoy it, but this may be a track for people who aren't particularly invested in the musicians involved here's other bands and are just wanting to check out a basic modern hard rock tune.
Several tracks in I begin to wonder if the leadoff track was a fluke. It took me a few songs to realize that there are a couple others like it. “Scream and Shout” actually kind of sounds like a Holy Diver era Ronnie James Dio song at times. There is a lot of intensity in the guitar riffs, the drumming becomes much more impressive, and the chorus pretty much screams heavy metal anthem. The guitar solos half-way through the song are definitely the cleanest and most impressive on the album. This is probably my favorite song on Chapter 1, and it’s kind of a shame that more of the album isn't like it.
After hearing a couple of hair metal inspired tracks I was hoping there would be an emotional ballad. I am definitely not disappointed in “All Hope is Gone”. I don't know what happened to the lyrics on some of the songs on the album, but they are back to how I would expect them to be from this group of incredible songwriters and musicians. This song has several beautiful piano interludes, one of which builds back up perfectly into the chorus. This definitely sounds like something that would have been a pretty huge hit back in the late 80s and Russell Allen's emotional yet powerful voice pulls it off perfectly. It is a bit disappointing; however, that there are 3 songs after this that just fail to move me before the albums ends.
Level 10 to me seems like a band that isn't necessarily always emotionally invested in the music they are making, but every so often they managed to have a few strokes of brilliance. All in all I feel that this suffers from what a lot of super group's albums do, which is instead of incorporating elements of each band they are comprised of to make original sounding and inspired music, they split the songs up into sounding like each individual band, which to me kills the entire flow of the album. There will be a few good songs here and there, but it’s next to impossible to create a masterpiece. I can't say that this album is a complete disappointment, there are some really solid tracks, especially “Cry No More”, “Scream and Shout”, and “All Hope is Gone”, but it does have several moments where it just misses the mark and could have used a little bit more thought and effort. The few standout tracks on this album; Russell Allen's relatively consistent vocals, and the incredible guitar solos from Roland Grapow and Alex Beyrodt have persuaded me to give Level 10's Chapter 1 album 6.5 out of 10. If this project continues there is still definitely potential for them to make albums worth listening to and I'd still be sure to check it out.
Adam Phillips, HMS
Older reviews