Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010
Raven Soul
100 Bleeding Hearts (Arctic Music Group)
Portugal’s Raven
Soul has made a name for itself in Europe with
a catchy hybrid of progressive, gothic and stoner metal. Early tracks on the
quintet’s U.S.
debut—a 35-minute EP called 100 Bleeding Hearts that’s already been available
in other parts of the world—recall The Mission, and Márcio “Mac” Caetano can
take his voice from throaty to downright pretty in just a few notes. He’s
backed by a tight group of musicians that sound hungry for success. Although
razor riffs and majestic keys are marred by heavy bottom-end production, Raven
Soul covers a lot of musical ground, offering both a hair-metal guitar solo
straight out of 1988 on “Why…?!” and mysterious progressive atmospherics worthy
of early Evergrey on “Chaos.” But it remains unclear what type of band these
guys want to be.



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