Last Updated on 03:29 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Progressive Metal/ Heavy Rock
Country: U.S.A
Label: Metal Blade Records
Year: 2016
It was yet another hot summer afternoon at the Metal Invader HQ and we were talking about who is getting which album for a review and George Tsekas gave me – with great certainty – the last album of Hammers Of Misfortune, which I was going to love, as he repeatedly told me so. Truth be told, every single time he gives me something to listen or to review and tells me that I’m simply going to love, never fails to disappoint me (slurp!), so I began right away to write, having in mind that the group provided solid and of high quality releases in the past. I am not hiding my concerns about progressive, though, since most of the prog releases in the last years sound to my ears over-technical, complicated and weird, written with gimmicks. In many cases, they end up sounding like a proper technical noise… I reassure you, that Hammers of Misfortune don’t belong to that category.
Five years after their last album ‘17th Street’ (2011), Hammers of Misfortune return with a brilliant album. John Cobbett, the guy responsible for the lyrics and the songwriting, worked his magic again and delivered ‘Dead Revolution’, a release that leans more towards a heavy sound, a back to the basics release, without, though, losing its progressive character at all. The album consists of only seven songs, but if you are lucky enough to listen to it, you’ll realise that these seven tracks give you exactly what you need. These seven have the power to lift you up.
The intro song ‘The Velvet Inquisition’ gives you a taste of what is yet to come, a mix of N.W.O.B.H.M. and 70’s rock. The keyboards just as to the rest of the album are used to give the distinctive progressive sound, the old school rock and not to hide the will to become heavier. The title track is incredible, you click the repeat and sing to it again and again (this is not a hypothetical story…), it’s catchy and consists of great riffs, (even if Cobbett used all his more metal ones for VHOL) you can understand what a great guitarist he is. The album continues with ‘Sea of Heroes’ that brings to our ears the classic heavy sound, and the same occurs with the next two songs, ‘The Precipe’ and ‘Flying Alone’. I must say that the latter and of course the title track ‘Dead Revolution’ are my favorites. The whole effort such as the previous one that we talked about, talks about the problems gentrification has created in San Francisco. That’s why the album concludes to ‘Days of ‘49’, a song that was previously covered by Bob Dylan and which gives the needed emphasis to the urban struggle.
There is no doubt what so ever that ‘Dead Revolution’ is a masterpiece and in my opinion one of the best albums of 2016. John Cobbett, just as last year with his VHOL project, never stops to amaze us and manages to enter to my top lists these last two years. Don’t miss this album.
5,5/6