Renegade State - Rise of a Race, Fall of a Kingdom [REVIEW]

Facebook

Listen / Download (via Bandcamp)
Genre(s): Groove Metal / Heavy Metal

Renegade State's album, Rise of a Race, Fall of a Kingdom, is a good combination of groove metal and heavy metal. They are not old school heavy metal, but are more like 'modern heavy metal.' This type of music isn't usually my cup of tea, but this album wasn't bad.

The first song off of Rise of a Race, Fall of a Kingdom is "Judgement Day." It starts with guitars blaring and drums playing in the background. The song's pace starts to kick up pretty quickly as the vocals come in. The vocals are more shouts than screams, and are done in an upbeat/fast manner. The instrumentals and vocals work well together and nothing seems to be out of place. There are some screams but they're not "-core screams" and I think they could some work. The overall sound of this song is sporadic, there is always something going on throughout the song and it transitions to different sounds very often.

The third song off of Rise of a Race, Fall of a Kingdom is "Unsuspecting Victim." It starts out with a guitar playing slowly and is used to lead up to the actual song. A second guitar starts to play overlapping the slow chord chugging of the first guitar. Following this, drums come in the background, primarily just bass pedal to be heard. The build up becomes a little bit faster and louder as full instrumentals come in. The sound of this sound is very groovy and upbeat. It has a pace that you bop your head to. The vocals are primarily shout-talking with some screams here and there. The song ends off with instrumentals, primarily showing off the work of the guitar. 

Rise of a Race, Fall of a Kingdom is a pretty decent album. It has a good balance of modern heavy metal and groove metal, and not one is overdone. The vocals aren't bad for the type that they are; shouts, shout-talking, etc. However the screams could use some improvement, though they are barely done. Renegade State stands out because you don't really hear this type of metal all too much anymore, so if you want to hear something different and new, check out this album.

Score: 3.5/5