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Crystal Tears: Hellmade
Crystal Tears: Hellmade
Heavy/Power Metal
3.5/5.0
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Massacre Records
by Craig Hartranft, 19.03.2014
It seems every four years is the charm for Crystal Tears. They return with their third album, Hellmade. Three may also be a charm for them. This is not only their third album, but the third different record label and third new vocalist; this time it's Søren Adamsen (ex-Artillery).
Crystal Tears: it says so right there.
What remains is their heavier version of power metal driven by strong riffs and founder Chrisafis Tantanozis's immense double bass drumming. While you'll catch some groove and melody, mostly Crystal Tears is blasting and blistering away as the drive their metal through you eardrums.
Actually, the best songs are those where the melody survives the massive wall of riffage and lifts the song as within Out of the Shadows or Beds Are Burning, lesser within The Devil Inside. Sometimes the vocal arrangement brings both melody and hook as in Ever Alone and Psycho Pollution. Mostly, however, Adamsen has a raw, sometimes screamo, sound. Essentially, in the end, Hellmade is a hard charging drum and riff monster with the subtleties of groove and melody keeping the potential for modern heavy metal harshness in check.
Crystal Tears - Out of the Shadows
Crystal Tears - Hellmade
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In Short
Essentially, Hellmade is a hard charging drum and riff monster with the subtleties of groove and melody keeping the potential for modern heavy metal harshness in check.
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