Last year’s ‘Time Machine’ EP was a good starting point, although it seems there were too many comparisons to bands from their German homeland for their liking, admittedly I did this comparison on the earlier review of the said EP.
‘Genesis Reversed’ addresses the balance and adds a touch of flare to the sound in the process. Not content with masterful metal anthems in the vein of Accept and some early 80’s Swedish metal like that on ‘Trumpets of the Gods’; the faster tracks like ‘Masters of Lightning’ hark back to their EP material and brandish a heavy/speed assault. The vocals appear loud in the mix and have the same style as earlier material, with a touch more variation in range, it’s good that Blizzen are trying something different and developing more and more. Although with being a touch high in the mix to me, it overbears the music and highlights some marginal limitations of range.
‘Hounded for Good’ has a touch of power metal to the guitar style, the melody draws your attention thoroughly and drags you into the Blizzen world where the traditional metal reigns more supreme as the song develops. ‘Gone Wild’ has some thunderous drumming and guitar bridge work, whilst the vocals go higher than eleven in terms of range which is surprising as in this key, it’s much more controlled and thus is stronger. However, I would say you have to have a decent stereo to listen to this on, a PC or Car system really does not do the sound of the album much justice. ‘Devil in Disguise’ still for me has a Cauldron flavour, I can’t deny some of the comparisons I have written about this band previously, it’s there! The final couple of tracks ‘Bestride the Thunder’ and the speedier ‘Skid into Death’ are fine tunes to finish your audible listening experience and provide a rush of excitement as they both play out.
Overall, there is an improvement in terms of trying something more out of the box, I still prefer the speed metal influence of the previous EP, but ‘Genesis Reversed’ sets the bar higher for others to follow and sets Blizzen ahead of the pack of metal bands coming out of Germany of late.
(8/10 Paul Maddison)
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