Rise To Addiction

A New Shade Of Black For The Soul

Written by: PP on 23/06/2007 02:08:12

Sheffield-based UK rockers Rise To Addiction have been gathering quite a fan-following in their home country despite their rather unfashionable approach to metallic rock, even though the title of their debut album "A New Shade Of Black For The Soul" suggests otherwise. I find it hard to believe this band has sold out a show of 2,000 people with the vocal style they utilize - they do not have screaming nor clean singing, and the vocals instead dwell somewhere in between shouted and scratched vocals without much variation.

The album has a mixture of different styles ranging from the guitar-driven songs in the vein of Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster to the more straight forward stadium rock songs, but honestly, none of them make a lasting impression on me. The songs seem to lack passion, and the prolonged shouts and instrumental passages sound forced and soulless to me, even though the promo sheet calls it a "stunning performance". Secondly, they are difficult to get into. Aside from "Cold Season" and "Falling As One", the songs blend together and don't have memorable hooks or even some catchy choruses, and at least to me, sound rather repulsive straight from their opening moments. For me, it's the monotonous vocals which never rise from the annoying-80s hard rock slump they fell into straight after the first chorus of "Cold Season" that do it, together with the uninspiring instrumentation and the songs that just drag on and on just for the sake of being long.

It is funny then, that once I actually sit down and active-listen to the album like now, while writing this review, I find dozens of moments worthy of much praise. For instance, the atmospheric middle passage in "Low" is absolutely brilliant, while the remainder of the song isn't very interesting. Rise To Addiction's problem seems to be that they are often able to write some magnificent passages but are unable to differentiate them from the routine or generic passages that the album is plagued by. There is much promise in this young band, and I am sure that already by their next album they'll have improved by leaps and bounds, and I'll be watching them with heightened interest. But before then, I can only award them an average grade.

5

Download: Cold Season, Falling As One, Low
For the fans of: Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster
Listen: Myspace

Release date 18.05.2007
Mausoleum Records

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