HAVEN – Shut Up and Listen
Rock
Of Angels Records
Sweden
is a country that from the late 90’s up to now has played a major role in heavy
metal music. It is a fact that it is the country that has set the trends both
in the extreme metal sound (with the melodic death metal genre) and in the
traditional metal sound (with all these retro metal bands). This is logical
since the bands over there are technically skilled and most of the times very
talented. So, HAVEN come from this musical background and their new effort is
the full length album entitled “Shut Up and Listen”.
Now
that I have listened to it, I think I can speak my mind about it. HAVEN
musically move in the melodic power metal genre and they also have a certain
dose of hard rock and power metal elements. On the other hand the band doesn’t
show the symptoms of the bands that come from their country lately. I mean they
don’t have any retro metal references. On the contrary the band tries to
combine the traditional with the modern metal elements under a dynamic
production (which for me is a bit plastic, I would rather prefer a more natural
sound).
Major
part in the sound of HAVEN or more properly the instrument that gives something
extra to their sound is the keyboards, which at times sounds melodic and other
times gives an epic – pompous feeling. Also in the rhythm section you will find
a lot of grooves which also creates a canvas upon which the lead guitars and
keyboards can create the character of each song.
“Shut
up and Listen” for me was a nice album to listen to. It was very pleasant if
you prefer this style, but it lacks of songs that can stand out and make me
listen to it again and again. There is though an exception to this rule and
these are the songs “Living Our Dream” and “Warlord Warrior”. HAVEN is a very
talented band and in the future I will expect even more from them. For now
check out the album and make your own decision about it.
Nick
“Verkaim” Parastatidis
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