Mausoleum/Border
Newcomes RAVEN LORD boosts one of the more interesting lineups of 2013. Front man Csaba Zvekan of KILLING MACHINE has joined forces with guitar hero Joe Stump, ex. TONY MARTIN bass player Jamie Mallender, drummer Lawrence “Larry” Paterson (ex. BLAZE BAILEY), guitarist George Karafotis and keyboard player Alessandro Duo. The combo sets out to find diehard devotees and fresh young disciples with their DIO/YNGWIE/PRIEST/SABBATH-tinged classic metal.
Opener “The Rebel” leaves little more to be wished for if you´re into the classics. Joe has an YNGWIE-like presence and tone and the US melodic heavy metal with European refrains sits nicely. Their “Atilla the Hun” will work most audiences on a drunken night, without quite reaching the opener´s magic. Csaba shows a lot of voice in “Let the Show Go On”, a few touches of keyboards does the rest. To be fair the merely ok/+ moments are here, in the shape of “Seal of the Crow” and “Revelation”. They are both alright but fail to reach as high as the other nine tracks. My personal favorite is clearly “Black Friar” with its ominous riff, slight touch of keyboards and Joe´s virtuosity on top, an absolute ace in my book. They also do a cliché ridden ACCEPT-ish track called “Metal Knights”, complete with female vox to keep the chanting alive at no doubt forthcoming concerts. But the remaining feeling is that of a complete band, with a few magic individuals, but yet the whole as a unity will take this lot places.
Track List
The Rebel
Atilla The Hun
Let the Show Go On
Seal of teh Crow
Promised Land
Settle the Score
Black Friar
World of Steel
Revelation
Metal Knights
Sun God
www.music-avenue.net/mausoleum www.myspace.com/raven-lord
