Phoenix Mourning - When Excuses Become Antiques

*=Staff's pick	Across Twenty-Six Winters* Contrast Niche' One January Morning* When The Sky Falls From Afar A New Decor Etched The Ornament Waiting For The King* My Future Actress Glasskiss 12.5

Genre	Metal	Jeremiah Ruff	Vocals
Tracks	13	Ahmed Smith	Guitar
Runningtime	54 Min.	Stephen Bowman	Guitar
Label	Metal Blade	Marshall Gibson	Bass
Release	21 April 2006	Kerry DeWitt	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

At least one cannot complain about the variation. Phoenix Mourning mixes thrash, nu-metal, black metal, radio rock and power metal. Sometimes it sounds good, but mostly not. The vocals are shared between a horrible totally talentless black metal screaming and an equally horrible (but in another way) 'clean' American radio rock voice. There are some parts that are quite good here and there, musically, but the vocals are effectively ruining every thought of making a higher grade. Anyway, One January Morning is the most direct track with a catchy chorus. Waiting For The King also stands out as slightly more melodic than the rest.

This will probably work on the American market, but in Europe there are still quite a stiff scepticism against these mixes of styles. Although the variation, it actually tends to be a bit monotonous from time to time, again because of the vocals but also because of the overdone production. The band claim to be a spectacular live act. It would be fun to call that actually, because on record their musical joy are not transformed to the listener.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
5	1	4

Summary
3 chalices of 10 - David