This write up is going to be a bit of a general love in for a Mr Urban Breed who sings on many of my all time favourite metal tracks
- apologies for mentioning a couple of other discs
#24 Trail of Murder: Shades of Art
Released 2012Tracks
1. Shades of Art 04:30
2. Carnivore 03:58
3. Lady Don't Answer 04:38
4. Mab 04:09
5. I Know Shadows 04:30
6. Your Silence 05:14
7. Higher 03:57
8. The Song You Never Sang 03:15
9. Nightmares I Stole 04:02
10. Child of Darkest Night 04:42
11. Some Stand Alone 03:47
12. My Heart Still Cries 05:22
This is one of only three albums released in the last 5 years or so that I feel strongly about in a positive way- the other two being the Shy (#50) and DT12. First some history behind my
for the eccentric man , urban Breed (yes he likes the first name without the capital letter).
One of my early proggish metal discs was Tad Morose's Sender of Thoughts and it was through my interest in this band that I discovered Mr Breed who arrived later and appeared first on A Mended Rhyme and then another three after that , each one getting a bit better. Even though the music was a bit up and down I knew that with the right material this guy could slay it. The final Tad Morose disc with him appearing was Modus Vivendi which is the HM below - the link contains one of my all time favourite power metal tracks, but like all the Urban Breed albums pre-2012 they either contained half killer (but what killer
), half filler and/or the production was crap. In the case of Modus Vivendi it was a bit of both.
The Bloodbound discs he appeared on have better production but are again only maybe a third killer. Definitely worth checking out though as the good tracks are also faves of mine. I'm no huge Maiden fan but the Maiden inspired material on Nosferatu is fantastic and the heavier more proggy stuff on Tabula Rasa is cool too.
Some samples of each;
from Nosferatu :
Nosferatu, Behind The Moon,
Metal Monsterfrom Tabula Rasa :
Take One ,
Plague DoctorSo , if you can't already tell, I love this guy's voice ..........he has the power and range to match just about any of my favourite metal singers , throw in a bit of Mike Howe sneer and an amazing ability to craft vocal melodies that I find memorable and it was just a matter of waiting for the right material with a good production. And that's what Trail of Murder delivers.
This disc took a very long time to surface – after leaving behind his gigs with Tad Morose, Bloodbound and later on Pyramaze (never recorded with them) Breed put the band together in 2005 , recorded between 2007 and 2011 , mixed/mastered in 2011 and released in October 2012 – that’s Def Leppard/Boston type speed. But it was well worth the wait. There isn’t a weak track on this but faves as linked. Your Silence brings the best of Conception to mind – likewise Nightmares I Stole and Crimson Glory……..the opening (title) track has a commercial edge but still with plenty of balls.
That this album was released in 2012 and made my top 25 speaks volumes – it is already one of my top melodic metal albums of all time and can only rise up the rankings. Given the criteria I laid out at the start this is as high as I felt I could place a recent release. I’ve never really seen it discussed anywhere , so either nobody knows about it or I have crap taste . It brings together Breed with guys who have played with him in past projects (Akerlind, Olsson) and is effectively a Breed solo album.
If you asked me where my current tastes lie when it comes to metal I could almost just hand you this disc. It’s fresh yet retro , beautiful yet brutal ,heavy yet very melodic, well produced and another one of those albums with its own (menacing) atmosphere. I’m not one for commenting on lyrics normally but Breed has also done a great job there too– much of is abstract but there’s obviously a lot more thought in it than your average metal album. I felt so strongly about it after purchasing that I took the time to write an in depth song by song review , something I haven’t done before or since. I won’t repeat that here but I’m sure you get the picture anyway.
Favourite Tracks (where do I start?):
Your Silence,
Nightmares I Stole ,
Shades of Art,
Some Stand Alone ,
Carnivore,,
My Heart Still Cries,
Much to my surprise the whole album has recently appeared on Grooveshark.
Honourable Mention: Tad Morose- Modus Vivendi - as mentioned above. The linked track "Take On The World" is one of the best power metal songs ever IMO - great combination of heaviness and melody. Shame about the muddy production.