Cage - Ancient Evil

Published October 25 2015

*=Staff's pick	There Were Others Ancient Evil* Behind The Walls Of Newgate The Procedure The Appetite Cassandra Blinded By Rage Tell Me Everything The Expedition* Beholder I Have Awakened Across The Sea Of Madness* To Save Love Christ Protect Me Sinister Six Symphony Of Sin The Antidote Tomorrow Never Came It Can't Be

Genre	Heavy Metal	Sean Peck	Vocals
Tracks	19	Dave Garcia	Guitar
Running time	76 Min.	Casey Trask	Guitar
Label	SMG	Alex Pickard	Bass
Release	October 30, 2015	Sean Elg	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboard
Producer	-
Similar artists	---

Even if the American metallers Cage, with different lineups, have been around since the late 90's and this new effort is their 7th installment to date, they have never really become a real force to be reckoned with in the realm of heavy music. After listening to Ancient Evil well over a dozen times, I don't see this state changing in an immediate or foreseeable future either, because frankly, what they do never gets to me.

Cage's music is highly energetic, intense and straight-out and the guitar play is propelling with a near constant flow of massive and direct riffing, making most of the contents pretty much run in a similar tempo all throughout the record. To come out with a huge amount of diversity is obviously nothing that the band strives for and the appearance feels kind of thick and viscous at times. A concept album with a playing time of 76 minutes is way too lengthy in terms of what this outfit is capable of doing to keep me attentive during the whole time.

The overall production is unpolished and the quality of the sound is somewhat a disadvantage for the end result. The song material isn't satisfactory enough either to really pick up my interest on a larger scale and only a few songs are able to generate a positive reaction from my side. Some of the intensity is in fact spectacular and the often frantic vocal performance of Sean Peck is nothing but all right and they have indeed managed to put some good choruses to the table, but those elements alone are not sufficient to bring forth a strong and comprehensive record in the end.

See also review of: Science Of Annihilation , Darker Than Black

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	5	5	7	4

Summary
4 chalices of 10 - Tobbe