So many thoughts come to mind when thinking about Tim “Ripper” Owens, and the interesting paths his life has taken so far. I don’t own any Judas Priest albums he performs on, and it certainly wasn’t due to anything he was doing wrong. Let’s get something straight, I’m not reviewing this with the thought “…former Priest singer…”, because let’s face it, he was wielding one seriously sharp doubled-edged sword during his time in such a legendary band. He couldn’t win for losing, and the lack of quality compared to earlier J.P. works wasn’t due to his inability to front the band, it was due to lackluster songwriting, and flat execution. If anyone ever claimed the Ripper years of Judas Priest were their favorites, well, I’d respect it, but I’d also have to strongly question just how much of their back catalog was taken into consideration while making that declaration.

And then there’s the Iced Earth gig. I’m not touching that one. We’re all better off for it.

So here we are, a little early on the trigger with this review, but at least we’re closer to the release date than other early reviews that are already posted elsewhere. But I’m going to take my time here, and an hour or more than the usual time it takes to do a write-up, because, honestly, there really IS that much to say about the self-titled Beyond Fear debut. Get comfortable.

First off, much has been made of Tim’s lyric abilities, and I can’t really say I have any issue with them at all. Far from poetic brilliance, I’d say his prose is (stereo)typical traditional metal fare. It’s not dungeons or saving maidens or anything, and it’s not an exclamation of “metalness”, but most of the compositions are defiant, accusatory lashes at his detractors in no uncertain terms. It sounds like a very personal, pointed effort, lyrically. There are those who will interpret this as bitterness, but from my standpoint, it comes across as being simply fed-up with bullshit. We’ve all been there, none of us are above feeling frustrated and wanting to blow off some steam.

And blow off steam Beyond Fear most certainly does. A robust mix of more straightforward Nevermore, Bay Area thrash (think Heathen), and no nonsense traditional metal that seems to make a great effort to sound far removed from Ripper’s previous work. Realistically, it sounds fresh for him, as if he really, finally was able to step out on his own, and make an indicative piece of work for who he is as an artist, and as an individual.

He’s joined by the rhythm section of bassist Dennis Hayes, and drummer Eric Elkins both of whom can be heard clearly locked-down tight like a mason jar, neither one of them overplaying but still keeping the backbeat consistently noticeable. I like how this sounds like a band, not just a shuttle for Ripper to indulge himself. Rhythm guitarists Dwane Bihary, and John Comprix round out this stocky bunch, and fly all over the place through a surprisingly diverse range of styles and moods. When John decides to try his hand at some Loomis-inspired leadwork, he does impressively well for himself, and rather strikingly exhibits much class and integrity while he whittles away with great melodic ardor. Nice. Very nice.

The songwriting itself is great at best, and good at worst, which means there’s really not a whole lot of filler on this album. You get your staccato crunch, lots of low pinched harmonics, a shitload of downpicked mosh riffs, double-bass drumming peppered throughout. You get the picture. Doesn’t sound like Iced Earth, and doesn’t sound enough like Priest for anyone to call Beyond Fear a cover band. A few of the tracks have that anthem quality, some of them are just chunky, roiling riff-fests, and the more mellow tracks flow smoothly and work effectively as being as close to power ballads as you’re likely to hear from Beyond Fear. There is a bit of originality to be desired at some moments, but it’s not a case of cherry-picking best aspects of other bands and just throwing them together. There was a definite aim at a certain type of overall sound, and there’s over 45 solid minutes of nothing but unequivocal, pure metal to be heard. Make no mistake, this is as honest and true as it gets.

As for Ripper…wow. Just wow. From the gracefully stretched, emotional power crooning of ‘Save Me’, to the bombastic opener ‘Scream Machine’ and everywhere between, Tim’s range is more enriched and powerful than ever. He’s the kind of guy who can lay down a melody to suit just about anything short of extreme metal. ‘Coming At You’ is an almost kicked-back jam that shows Tim to be a more than competent flashy rock and roll singer, and the sweeping musical majesty of the wilting ‘Dreams Come True’ is superbly rendered.

You should also expect a lot of high notes, incidentally. If you had any idea that Tim would hold back on his screams, you really weren’t thinking reasonably, sorry to say. If you don’t like Tim’s screams, don’t even bother with this. He’s quite comfortable at the higher end of his octave range, and has no problem with integrating his banshee wail into the framework of his songs without sounding forced into regulation. Hell, on ‘Words Of Wisdom’ the band shifts into a thrashy, almost Swedish bit of melodic chunk, with Tim likewise gruffly shouting along before launching into another rattling falsetto. It’s a stunning transition, and it puts a whole new potential spin on metal vocals within the confines of certain modernized styles.

My friends, this is the real deal, and to be honest, I went into this with some pretty big doubts that it could be pulled off with any sort of integrity and individualism, and my doubts were silenced. ‘Beyond Fear’ is a marvelous debut that doesn’t require any allusion to “potential”, because this is a charger right from the start. I was nearly blown away by this album, and I think you will be too. They sound like a veteran band, confident, wise, and tastefully fine-tuned already. As far as debuts go, this might end up being my pick for the best freshman production of 2006, and I stand firmly behind my rating. This will be remembered fondly at the end of the year as the album that finally silences Ripper’s critics, and gives him the credit he so deserves.Very well done.

This entry was posted by Dekompoze on Friday, 31st March, 2006 at 19:19 and is filed under Reviews, Beyond Fear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response below. You may view a   printable version of this page. You may download this page in   PDF format.