now!!!
I figured that an album warranting a name that deals with expressive measures of silence would actually have something to do with actual stillness. Nonetheless, I forgot that in Metal music, nearly everything is a paradox, silent conundrums you may call it, but no so silent after all as it would seem to be. The Danish RIPE, formed back in 2000, has something going on with the elements of silence but with their powerful Metal doctrine, silence is just a noun written on paper as they blasted through yet another wall with their new release, “The Eloquence Of Silence”, once again released via Mighty Music. With the bestowment of their admiration for 80s Metal, following with bits of mid 90s Heavy Metal / Hard Rock attributes while all these gathered under a longwinded sound production, RIPEcan actually make a name of itself in the Metal world and beyond. Venturing a catchy type of Metal, sometimes a bit Popish, in the roots of 90s PRETTY MAIDS (their local veterans), 80s DIO and Tony Martin‘s era with BLACK SABBATH, “The Eloquence Of Silence” might not be the top form impact but it sure left me wishing for a swift return of this band with brand new material.
If you were looking for something complex, I don’t think that “The Eloquence Of Silence” would answer your cravings, on the other hand, if you were looking for style, classy act and simple, yet astounding performance, RIPE will surely deliver the goods plus interest. Even with their attempt to compose something a bit dark and hollow in the image of the track“Xenophobe In Hiding” and “Ghost Of A Rose”, which were decent tracks but for some reason didn’t fit well with the band’s image on this release. The rest of the tracks on the album are smoother, meeker, and catchier with a sort of divine elegance led by the band’s vocalist, and also the new frontman of ARTILLERY, Michael Bastholm Dahl. Following the groovy riffing, open chord verses and tasty soloing of the lead shredding fret man Jakob Højgård Olsen, Dahl presented himself as a great leader of this team of great musicians playing tightly with a positive vibe. Check this out, a positive sounding Heavy Metal, even though some of the song titles aren’t in positive area code. I mostly enjoyed “Porcelain Goddess”, which was amazing but rather too short as there is a limit for how much taste for more an artist wishes to leave, “The Candle And The Sun”that was a bit more deep from the others yet not as those I mentioned earlier but still a mind blowing experience, and there is the swift opener of “Fade To Rise”, a cracking opener that left me with a smile smeared on the my face.
RIPE has been making a nice fusion between 80s and 90s Heavy Metal with bites of Hard Rock, using catchy riffing and attractive singing rhythms in order to capture souls under the web. Not that it is a bad thing of course. It is certainly not original but it was well made. So if you are a fan of the later PRETTY MAIDS, do know that there is another band here with intent to be a major thing in both the local and the European scene. The question is, and if I was right about them, will they live up for it?
1. Fade To Rise
2. A Riddle In The Dark
3. The Candle And The Sun
4. Dreamwalker
5. A Part Apart
6. Bloodlust
7. Saint Of The Scar
8. Xenophobe In Hiding
9. Porcelain Goddess
10. Song For A Shadow
11. Above Inside
12. Ghost Of A Rose