NINTH CIRCLE – Echo Black

NINTH CIRCLE - Echo Black
  • 2/10
    NINTH CIRCLE - Echo Black - 2/10
2/10

Summary

Pure Underground Records
Release date: June 26, 2020

Sending
User Review
0/10 (0 votes)

Los Angeles Heavy Metal act Ninth Circle are back with their fourth album Echo Black. The band promises songs that are catchier than previous efforts with styles that vary from NWOBH to US Metal and European Metal.

Echo Black is a problematic release. While this marks the band’s fourth album you would swear it was their first. Dennis Brown is clearly a proficient and certainly above average guitar player. This is evident with his riffage on “Dance of Swords” and “Angels Share,” as well as his licks and guitar runs on “Echo Black,” “Prelude to Glory,” and “Natural High.” Richie Brooks knows how to pound the drums on Echo Black with his highlights being “Shadow of Giants” and “Riding the Storm.” Bassist Frank Forray is right there lock step with Brooks bringing in the deep bass low end.

However, the songwriting is pedestrian and amateur for a band with three albums behind them and a couple of decades of experience. While the choruses vary from track to track, a lot of the songs share similar cadence when it comes to the verses. In addition, there appears to be some effort to rhyme the same word suffix more than twice. For example, on “Tokyo Nights” the words night, alright, tonight, or some variation of “-ight” are repeated 50 times in the song. That’s not an exaggeration.

Brown’s vocals are not powerful enough to be believable in most cases. When he says “I am the lion’s roar on “Forever More,” you just don’t feel any “oomph” or passion behind that statement. Maybe it’s the vocal effects being used that makes Brown sound robotic at times or maybe it’s a case of this material translates better live. At times Brown’s voice mimics Geddy Lee of Rush, Michael Stipe of REM, or even “Weird Al” Yankovic. Once again with vocal effects negatively affecting that.

Ninth Circle promotes themselves as a Heavy Metal band. Looking at the cover and imagery of Echo Black it certainly steers you that way. However, if there’s such a category, you might call them Emo Metal.

TUNE INTO METALEXPRESSRADIO.COM at NOON & MIDNIGHT (EST) / 6:00 & 18:00 (CET) TO HEAR THE BEST TRACKS FROM THIS UPCOMING RELEASE!!!

Tracklist

  1. Dance of the Swords
  2. The Angel’s Share
  3. Echo Black
  4. Tokyo Nights
  5. Prelude to Glory
  6. Shadow of Giants
  7. Return of the Key
  8. Return of the King
  9. Riding the Storm
  10. Then & There
  11. Natural High
  12. When The Sun Goes Down (Bonus Track)
  13. Warrior

Author

  • George Dionne

    George was a contributor here at Metal Express Radio, reviewing albums and conducting interviews, out of Massachusetts, USA. George has contributed to numerous music related websites and blogs, and even managed his own from 2004-2009. George's first assignment was covering a live show by the mighty GWAR. By contrast his later assignments featured Judas Priest, Van Halen, and Bon Jovi. George was also the front man for the South Eastern Massachusetts cover band Sound Tower from 2009-2015.  Sound Tower played 300+ shows across MA and had two original songs on the Cape Cod radio station PIXY 103. George enjoys a good whiskey, scotch, and/or bourbon and fights crime in his spare time.

    View all posts

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.