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Rebellion - A Tragedy In Steel Part 2 - King Lear
Rebellion - A Tragedy In Steel Part 2 - Shakespeare's King Lear CD Album Review

Rebellion: A Tragedy In Steel Part 2

Heavy/Power Metal
3.5/5.0

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Massacre Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 22.01.2018

Some 16 years ago, for their first album, Germany's Rebellion decided to put MacBeth, a tale from the William Shakespeare, Bard of Avon, to the tune of heavy power metal. They called the album A Tragedy In Steel, as the Bard was apt at writing many tragic tales. Now Rebellion returns with A Tragedy In Steel Part 2 featuring Shakespeare's King Lear.

Rebellion Band Photo

Rebellion

Being my first listen to an Rebellion album, I'll cut to the chase and simplify things here, telling you what I liked and didn't like right from the start. First, I did not care for Michael Seifert's vocals. His voice is coarse and gruff, nearing death metal vocals. He sounds like he's gargling gravel with a battery acid chaser. This in turn makes him difficult to understand and so the lyrics. The lyric booklet would have been handy to have. Additionally many songs contain spoken word portions. They are probably from the source matter, but they were also difficult to understand. Again, the lyric booklet would be helpful. I'm hoping you get it with the physical copy.

What I did like about King Lear was the variety of heavy power metal within, even though the overall "sound" of the album has darker feeling. There's some heavy metal rockers, having some good groove, with The Mad Shall Lead The Blind, and the catchier Stand Up For Bastards. Basic and speedy power metal comes Storm And Tempest or Blood Against. Alternatively, Demons Of Madness and Farewell are heavy and plodding numbers that reveal that dark grim motif swimming within the album.

In the end, however, the deal breaker for me was the vocals. Normally, I listen to any album at least twice before writing my review. Frankly, it was a tough listen to get through King Lear one time, and then I skipped through some songs. But I would imagine long time fans of Rebellion enjoy their style and Seifert's vocals. They will certainly also enjoy Rebellion's heavy metal take on A Tragedy In Steel Part 2 - Shakespeare's King Lear.



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The Bottom Line

With A Tragedy In Steel Part 2 - Shakespeare's King Lear, Germany's Rebellion takes another of the Bard's tragic tales and gives it a heavy power metal workout.

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