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Steel Raiser: Regeneration
Steel Raiser Regeneration Review

Steel Raiser Regeneration

Heavy Metal
3.5/5.0

Here's some more traditional metal from Pure Steel Records: Sicily's Steel Raiser and their sophomore album, Regeneration. Steel Raiser's style of metal echoes the mid-Eighties, a blend of classic melodic heavy and power metal.

Steel Raiser Band Photo

Steel Raiser:: what's with the crazy eye patch?

After several spins, Steel Raiser seems to be going after a hybrid of Judas Priest, circa Painkiller maybe, and Udo era Accept. What they do have is a rich sound, lots of depth to their metal. There's nothing modern here. Strong rhythm section, good underlying rock groove, big riffs, and even bigger guitar solos. There's a light touch of keyboards here and there as on Wings of the Abyss. It works well together.

But the biggest wild card here, at least to these ears, is vocalist Alfonso Giordano. He has this real raw and raspy voice that isn't always clear. Giordano has some Udo timbre, but not always the most smooth delivery. He's often uneven. For instance, on Cyber Laser he seems to struggle, yet sounds controlled on Wings of the Abyss and nearly epic on Regeneration. Giordano definitely an acquired taste.

Otherwise, Regeneration is packed with some very fine classic heavy/power metal. Best cuts include Regeneration, Magic Circle, Wings of the Abyss, and curious Love Is Unfair. The music and those band members working with instruments definitely trump the vocals. The odd song here is the last: Chains of Hate lifts more than a few riffs and ideas from Zeppelin's Kashmir. Overall, Steel Raiser's Regeneration is a worthy effort; buy it for the metal, endure the vocals.

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In Short

Steel Raiser's Regeneration is well-crafted classic heavy and power metal circa the mid-Eighties, with some rather rough and uneven vocals that require a little patience to endure.

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