Guitar hero Chris Broderick didn't waste a lot of time after leaving thrash titans Megadeth to form his own band, and after finalizing the line-up with another former Megadeth member Shawn Drover on drums, bassist Matt Bachand (Shadows Fall/Times Of Grace), and vocalist Henry Derek (Scar The Martyr), the band have titled themselves Act of Defiance and released their debut album Birth and the Burial on Metal Blade Records. While the title of the album could have some meaning regarding Broderick & Drover's leaving the mighty Megadeth behind them, this release certainly signals the arrival of a powerful thrash act bursting onto the scene.
Actually, to call Act of Defiance a pure thrash act doesn't really tell the whole picture, as due to Derek's vocal style, there's a bit of metalcore to be found here, and before that statement scares you off, let me explain. You see, the former Scar the Martyr singer is adept at not only the gruff, throaty roar that you expect from any thrash vocalist, but he also occasionally drops in a mix of hardcore bellows and death metal growls, something we see quite often with the multitude of metalcore acts currently permeating the scene. It's kept at somewhat of a minimum however, but even so, the singer does a great job here of varying up his vocal attack from song to song, allowing tunes like "Dead Stare" and "Legion of Lies" to have plenty of depth and texture. Musically speaking, the band really cranks things up into overdrive on "Throwback", "Thy Lord Belial", "Distrastrophe", "Poison Dream", and "Crimson Psalm", complete with Broderick's massive riff-o-rama and shredding solos as well as Drover's busy drum attack. "Refrain and Re-Fracture", "Obey the Fallen", and the memorable title track offer up some really melodic moments, with Derek delivering potent clean vocals with just enough of an edge, for a style that James Hetfield would be well advised to pay attention to.
Birth and the Burial scores big right from the first tune and continues with the quality all the way through to the final cut, and while something tells me that, despite how good this all is, I think the best is yet to come from this new 'supergroup'.
Track Listing
- Throwback
- Legion of Lies
- Thy Lord Belial
- Refrain and Re-Fracture
- Dead Stare
- Disastrophe
- Poison Dream
- Obey the Fallen
- Crimson Psalm
- Birth and the Burial
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