Tension Rising – The Last Judgement
Tension Rising – The Last Judgement
Self-Released
Release Date: 17/01/23
Running Time: 30:44
Review by Simon Black
7.5/10
Tension Rising are one of those acts that old journos like me struggle to pigeonhole. Despite describing themselves as sitting in the more Melodic end of the Metal spectrum they really splice up so many sub-genre elements as to probably deserve their own heading, but let’s go with heavily Djent and Progressive influenced Melodic Metal. This 3-piece hails from New York, and this is their second full release following on from 2020’s “Penumbra”. Like many bands releasing a debut in that lost first year of the pandemic, they probably deserve to have made a little more of a dent than they have so far, but such is the impact of lack of touring that it feels like they are still on the starting blocks.
That’s unfair really, as this record shows a richness and maturity that deserves to be wider known. It’s a short and punchy six track concept affair, with an arc focussed on the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It’s the kind of concept that would end up sounding over-wrought and overdone in the hands of a Power Metal act, but here it works well – with the possible exception of the numerous linkage pieces, consisting of short atmospheric sections with a lot of horse whinny action!
This is very much a studio project, with none of the three credited musicians covering either drums or keyboards, despite these being quite fundamental to their sound, so I am guessing that the impacts of Covid have meant that this will be delivered by click track in a live setting, but the somewhat Prog interplay going on there is screaming for a full time set of players there. That’s really clear from the instrumental opener ‘An Unsuspecting World’ but steps back a little when the lyrics kick in. Vocally Chris Garrigan takes a mainly clean lower register delivery style, balanced with some nice extreme vocal counterpoints that you don’t normally get in the Melodic end of things, but it works really well.
The other thing that strikes you immediately is the sheer heaviness and depth of the production. It’s hugely atmospheric and meaty from the opening bars, and really does not let up throughout. Whilst working better when more focussed and structured in the songs department (‘Death’ loses its way somewhat, for example) this is an incredibly catchy and unexpectedly entertaining slab of quite blisteringly technical Metal that surprises throughout.
TRACKLISTING:
01. An Unsuspecting World
02. Conquest
03. War
04. Famine
05. Death
06. Apocalypse
LINE-UP:
Chris Garrigan – Vocals / Rhythm Guitar
Alex Repetti – Bass
Alex Raykin – Lead Guitar
LINKS:
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