BALANCE OF POWER
Fresh From The Abyss
“Fresh From The Abyss” marks the welcome return of BALANCE OF POWER after a break of around twenty years. Original members Tony Ritchie and Lionel Hicks are back with an exciting and refreshed new lineup. This included adding a female vocalist to the band’s membership for the very first time. And wow, what a cool choice they made!
Now there are rock vocalists and then there are ROCK VOCALISTS and Hazel Jade Rogers is most definitely the latter. Her powerful vocals will stop you in your very tracks, make you double check that you really did hear what you thought you just heard and then just simply blow you away with their sheer volume, depth, and range.
The moment I heard “Never be Here Again”, the first single that landed from “Fresh From The Abyss”, I just knew BALANCE OF POWER were about to deliver something very special and remaining true to my high expectations they, in my humble opinion, certainly have. The whole album fills me with pure joy and takes me right back to the early days of metal by reigniting the burning passion within me of why I fell in love with this style of music in the first place.
Hard rocking songs like “Abyss” and “Deadlands” are fast and punchy with heavy riffs, legendary guitar solos whilst also being further beefed up and enhanced by Hazel Jade‘s spot on gritty old style rock vocal delivery. Sweet for me and sweet for you too! This is ear candy of the highest quality!
“Last Man Down” is power chords all the way whilst “One More Time Around The Sun” is as fine a power ballad as you will hear from any band on the planet anytime this year. These tracks exude emotion as they draw you in by slowly letting the music flow through you, over you, and in you with beautiful sound waves of pure metal joy.
For anyone who likes to get a bit more up to date from time to time (and who doesn’t), “Velocity” offers something with a bit more of a modern metal twist to it whilst also adding a slightly gothic edge by means of some hauntingly lovely vocals.
“Fresh From The Abyss” is not an album for the feint hearted either with each track giving something a little different whilst the overall theme stays close to BALANCE OF POWER’s core signature and more traditional sound. With heavy on the hammer and heavy on the bass tunes like “Monster” and slow burners like “Rage Of Ages”, BALANCE OF POWER’s delivery is raw and uncompromising yet also sure to have you singing along too. It’s retro in style, yet totally modern and current too, as well as being a thoroughly enjoyable listen from start to finish.
If you’re either an old timer like me who yearns for the early days when metal and life was a lot less complicated, or indeed a young metal head who wants to explore the special times that the old guys always rave on about, then “Fresh From The Abyss” should be on your list of albums to check out as you won’t find a finer example of that beautiful old school sound anywhere. I was grinning from ear to ear for the whole of the time whilst checking this album out and have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it to everyone.
Mark Waight