Death Keepers, a Spanish power metal group, opens their debut album Rock This World with their first tracks "Rock & Roll City" and "Fire Angel" straight forward power metal numbers with immediate touches of Helloween. "Death Keepers" the third track is a wonderful melodic metal tale reminiscent of Iron Maiden circa Somewhere in Time.
"Haven's Heaven" is the breakaway song that gives the group the originality and sonic signature necessary to start playing to their own tune (excuse the pun.) The title track "Rock This World" is a dramatic departure of what I would have expected. I was ready for a AOR pop metal song but instead this track is deadly serious in guitar solos and lyrical integrity. A fine job in showcasing the musical chops of a tight cohesive unit.
"Thriving Forcast" is a fabulous instrumental track full of George Lynch-like tornado twists and turns backed by a powerful bass rhythm. "Love's Within" is a standard rocker but the following song "Wildfire" is Helloween influenced story anthem of incredible quality and entertainment. My favorite of this immensely diverse album.
"Metallia" is the heaviest effort of this eleven-song album. It's Judas Priest homage is perfectly executed and a welcome change of pace for a disc that spans power metal to progressive metal to plain old British new wave heavy metal. The final track "Smooth Hit Love" is their attempt at a slow tempo semi ballad. I'm not sure if it succeeds since it is far less passionate or musically intrinsic than most of the other album selections. I also must point out the timing is poor too since this type of arrangement is better positioned in the middle of the album. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I prefer my albums to start and finish with metal thunderbolts.
Death Keepers are the type of band that if stays the course will make a valuable contribution to the field of metal music. Their metal credentials are genuine. Their vocalist is talented and has yet to reach his greatest potential. And the guitar work is phenomenal to cover so well many metal genres and still sound fresh and full of new ideas. I am excited to hear more from these emerging metal stars.
Track List
01 Rock & Roll City
02 Fire Angel
03 Death Keepers
04 Haven's Heaven
05 Rock This World
06 Thriving Forcast
07 Love's Within (Yourself)
08 Wildfire
09 Invention IV
10 Metallia
11 Smooth Hit Love
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