Primal Rock Rebellion - Awoken Broken (2012) (8/10)

PRIMAL ROCK REBELLION is a project of singer Mikee Goodman from the deceased Progressive Metal band SIKTH and IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith who also plays the bass guitar on this album and performs some well done background vocals as well. The duo is completed with session musicians in form of drummer Dan Foord, Tarin Kerry as background vocalist on three songs and finally Abi Fry who plays viola on several tracks.

Many traditional Metal fans had some issues with this release and it was even completely ignored by some websites but anybody who likes modern Alternative Metal and doesn’t mind some elements coming from Groove, Nu, and Progressive Metal should quickly get addicted to this underrated record. Quite variable vocals from darker tones up to hysterical high pitched screams meet melodic guitar solos in tradition of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and some more brutal and modern riffs.

The band though chose the worst track as opener and even second single. “No Friendly Neighbour” opens with electronic beats that make me think of early LINKIN PARK and soon heads for a song that permanently changes and lacks of catchy or at least coherent passages. Musically, the song might be appealing but it’s a too complicated piece to kick a record off with. Most of the other songs are much easier to digest and once you have passed over this weird track, you’ll have a reward in form of a diversified and energizing release.

The first highlight is the single “No Place like Home” with a crazy and diversified vocal performance leading to an unforgettable chorus. The song structure is quite vivid and hectic but this time the experiment fits. The riffs are sharp and immediately make your head bang. The guitar solo should please to any fan of traditional metal music and is definitely a signature work by Adrian Smith.

The band shows us a completely different side with the upcoming tracks “I See Lights” and also “Bright as a Fire”. These songs are a lot slower and quite heavy. The bass guitar has its more dominating parts in these tracks. The vocals are low and brutal but transmit a lot of negative emotions. Another highlight comes along with the slow and minimalist “Tortured Tone” that makes me think of a dark Grunge Rock track of the nineties and that definitely has some single potential. After some distorted and mean background vocals that duel with the dark main vocals, the chorus has a perfect mixture of a hopeful and desperate feeling and even makes me think of a modern IN FLAMES track. As you can see, the band doesn’t hesitate to try out new things and leaves the ordinary paths by putting a lot of emotions in everything they try out. Another example is the short and quite weird poetic interlude “As Tears Come Falling from the Sky” featuring multiple foreground and background vocals and some weird sound experiments VOIVOD would be proud of. The following title track “Awoken Broken” hits in a similar vein and is probably the most progressive one on the entire release and especially impresses with some eerie sound experiments and an unusual guitar solo in its middle part. The track though requests a lot of attention as well as multiple tries and is one of the hardest songs to digest on here.

The only problem with this release is that the album falls a little bit off towards the end as some ideas feel a little bit repetitive and the tracks get less catchy or impressive. While some tracks are quite addicting right from the start, most songs need a lot of time to grow while other ones even fail to so and might be cited as stinkers but don’t worry as there aren’t too many on here in the end.

In the end, this album is still one of the most interesting experiments of the year and features a couple of truly solid and diversified songs. It’s far from perfection but without a doubt a quite unique sound experience. I would recommend this release to open minded metal fans that don’t mind a modern sound and some influences coming from often despised genres such as Alternative Metal or Grunge. Before purchasing this release, you should definitely give a few songs a shot to decide if you are able to stand the quite unique and emotional vocals that are definitely the most stunning trademark of this album. In my humble opinion, this record is one of the year’s first highlights and definitely has its place in my top twenty of the year.

(Online October 13, 2012)