Brazen Abbot
Eye Of The Storm

This album by Brazen Abbot has really thrown me for a loop. Even after listening to it at least twenty times, I still can't quite decide if I like it or not.

On one hand, thinking of an objective listen, it is known that there are all the features to speak well of it, from the excellent voices of Edman and Thomas Vikström (Candlemass), to the fantastic riffs and solos of Bulgarian frontman Nikolo Kotzev.
With a subjective listen instead, I realize that something is indeed missing, there isn't even a small peculiarity or something hinted at that makes me think: wow!

I don’t know Brazen Abbot at all, but what I understand from this album is that they make a fine rock'n heavy, well-crafted with the use of particular atmospheres, which perhaps due to remarkable technique and precisely being too "technical" leads my predisposition to "acquire by listening" towards realms already explored, and not just once.
So I think that actually the album isn't bad, but I realize that I won't listen to it again even in fifteen years because hearing a heavy metal that, although played greatly, doesn't hit from any point of view, I have no desire for it whatsoever.

What can I say, excellent technique but little expressiveness, or excellent music but little communication. From their official site's discography, I notice that it is the second album of six, but the band has collaborated on several projects. The tracks are hard and gritty but certainly don’t shy away from creating melodic backdrops; there are nice choruses and almost ethnic nuances, the title track more or less says it all, showcasing a musical style that is very anchored to the classicism of old-school hard rock.
It's noteworthy that the ballads, in this case, "Fool In Love", are not silly and indeed hold their ground, similar goes for "Everything’s Gonna A light". Aggressive moments alternate like in "The Road To Hell" with others more cheerful like in "Common People".

I'm keeping the CD, you never know, maybe someday I might take it in the car, but I don't know… the technical riffs, with the prefixed schemes… all stuff heard before.