Band : Upwards Of Endtime

Album Title : From Genesis To Apocalypse And Beyond

Label : Barbarian Wrath

Distributor : Bertus

Release Date : April 2008

Review : CD

From Genesis To Apocalypse And Beyond is the third album from this US heavy metal act, a band with a very high standard; their two previous albums were all excellent. This is a fantastic album, flat out. The unique leads and gloomy vocals by Phil Swanson ( Hour of 13- read review 25/03/208 )set a very effective atmosphere, while still having a great dated metal sound, which is what I imagine they were trying to achieve.

From Genesis To Apocalypse And Beyond sounds quite original and can probably best be described as a mixture between classic doom and NWOBHM. The CD kicks off with mid-tempo burner “Men at arms” and I must admit that it was a good choice of the band to add Tony Truglio as second lead guitarist in the line-up. Tony Truglio also is known as the former axe player of US Metal band Liege Lord , who penned down one of my fave 80s metal classics “For the king” of the underrated power metal debut album Freedom's Rise . Every of the new tracks is a winner, especially the spiritual and emotional “Passing time". Mixing all the vibes of old Priest, Holocaust, Warning, Savatage and Manilla Road , UOE brings a record filled with a crunch laden riff structure, going from a Iommi - meets- Phil Cope ( Witchfinder General ) riff grind (found in cuts like “Search for light” and “The sleeping dragon”) to more emotional, dark pastures (examples are the “A prayer for the dying” and “She comes to me in dreams”) putting all those elements in their fitting places throughout the record.

If you're a huge fan of obscure doom, heavy and power metal.

85/100

Cosmicmasseur.