Levl
Controlled By Time
5.7
Right now it seems many bands are showing where they got their roots by incorporating old-school metal within their sound. Hell some bands just go all-out old-school too (i.e. Kings Evil, Bloodbath, Witchery). For the most part it seems to be working for a lot of the bands, as long as they still try to through their own twist on the music to add something new and enjoyable. Levl follows along these lines, showcasing an old-school sound reminiscent of early-mid 90's heavy metal/thrash sound. It reminds me mostly of Machine Head's crushing debut entitled Burn My Eyes. There's only one problem though, Levl falls quite short of reaching the power of the above album. Here's why: Granted Levl has a cool solo on damn near every track of Controlled by Time, but what good is a solid solo when accompanied by bland riffs. Here's an example of 9 out of 10 of the verse riffs you will hear on this CD. They'll start off with a short chord progression, then we go into the palm-muted open E-string in 4/4 time, while vokillist Kyle Lamb (who sounds a lot like Rob Flynn of Machine Head, by the way) goes through his verse, then we do the same quick chord progression, then back to the palm-muted . . . well, I think you get the idea. Sure the choruses may have a few decent riffs pumped out by guitarists Murray Howes and Todd Pimlott, but never does anything really draw me in to this album. When you get about half way through the album you could pretty much stop it and walk away feeling like you listened to the whole thing, because there isn't too much different on the rest of it.
The album is well produced; it was done by the mastermind of Annihilator, Jeff Waters. That's one thing the album has going for it. The guitars have a nice tone, the vokills sound solid, and the drums are commanding, but that's about it. I can't really think of anything to recommend Controlled by Time for. Maybe if you're still stuck in some kind of early-mid 90's bay area time warp, you might dig this. And maybe had it come out during that time period it would have gained more attention, but at this point in the game it's nothing new. For most this would only get a couple spins and then hit the dust rack, so buyers beware.
