Album Review: Dynazty - Firesign

As I have said many times, what I love perhaps most of all is heavy metal combined with big pop hooks. That combination hits at every part of who I am as a music fan, and it is done well so rarely, so I try to hang on dearly every time I come across a good record. That is why Dynazty is a bit odd. Their last two albums have hit the right balance, and I have enjoyed them, yet they haven't stuck with me the same way my favorites do. I still play Bloodbound's "Tabula Rasa" at least bi-monthly, and James LaBrie's "Impermanent Resonance" hits me every time I hear it. Dynazty hasn't done that for me yet. I always hold out hope that it will happen the next time, which just so happens to be now.

Listening to "Firesign", it sounds like an album I should absolutely love. "The Grey" is a song that builds up to a chorus with a strong melody and stop-start guitars that have a simple hook to them as well. That is the kind of little thing that makes it harder to forget a song. You can take all the technical runs of notes the most talented players can muster, and none of them mean anything. But if you can play two notes that have a groove you can hum along with, you've figured out what writing songs is all about.

Dynazty can't resist throwing some extra cheese into a style of metal that often gets portrayed that way regardless. The title track, as well as a couple of other spots, are dotted with strongly digital synth tones. How seriously you take your metal will probably determine whether or not you enjoy those aspects. For me, they don't last long very long, so I have no problem with them trying to add color to the songs. This wouldn't be the right music for them to go all-in on "Follow The Reaper" era Children Of Bodom synths, but as minor details they work.

The issue that crops up is the nature of pop music. Everyone tends to have an idea of what pop melodies are supposed to sound like (myself included), which can be so limiting that the songs you create off that template can be too similar. There have been a few bands this year I have mentioned having songs that felt too similar to songs from their own recent past. With Dynazty, there are a couple of melodies just within this album that are rather close to one another. I think perhaps the target they were shooting for was not quite wide enough.

But don't let that distract from the main point here, which is that "Firesign" is a solid album of catchy melodic metal. If you've heard any of the singles that were put out, you will know what the rest of the album has to offer. There isn't a lot in the way of diversity here, but what's done is done well. Dynazty has a signature sound they are mining, and they are merely refining that sound to create albums that deliver heavy guitars and catchy vocals. I can't blame them for doing what works.

So my takeaway from "Firesign" is pretty much the same as it was when I was listening to their previous album, "Titanic Mass". Dynazty doesn't quite hit the highs of my favorites from the style, but they do a good job of delivering songs that deliver on all the aspects of metal I love. That makes it an easy recommendation.