Dungeon – “One Step Beyond”
“The Power Within” opens the album: double-bass, high scream, loud, victory-drunk heavy metal. The song is a high-energy exercise in metal power. The chorus is melodic and the vocals change pitch to a more subdued mood. The guitar solos are as wanted: shredding bits, harmony bits and working well within the context of the song. The chorus after the solo has another minisolo in the background. “Against the Wind” is supercatchy: opening with a melodic guitar minisolo, then comes the singing while you hear only the bass and drums, then kick in the guitars, a main riff, with a second more melodic layer behind it. The singing and the riffing really, really work here. The guitar solos are good, again, fast bits, melodic bits, and the song begins to head to the end with lots of multi-layered singing. “Surface Tension” sports a near-thrash, stomp, stomp, stomp that has all the main heavy metal moves on display: explosive, fast guitar solo, an strong sense of high energy, midrange vocals with higher parts for the chorus and in-your-face drumming. This is song number seven, but it could have opened the proceedings. The last song, “Under the Cross” has galloping riffs, combined with melodic background guitar layers. The singing here is slightly more melodic, while the song has that triumphant, we-want-to-end-the-album-on-a-high-note feeling. Five minutes into the song appear the guitar solos, some bits fast, other bits nice, metal noodling, and then here comes the “oh-oh-oh”/metal chanting. OK, you get the picture: this band relies on the guitars and singing to create a feeling of triumph and melody. Plenty of near-thrash riffing and double-bass drumming. While not some great revelation, this band is obviously is big on playing the music they love: heavy metal with a sense of victorious feel.