Album Review: David Reece - Cacophony Of Souls

We often use the word 'journeyman' when we don't know what else to call someone who has been around for a long time, been a part of many bands, but hasn't really accomplished a whole lot. It isn't exactly a pejorative, but it serves that same purpose, merely with a softer touch. David Reece is a journeyman, and there's nothing wrong with that. He's been around, he's been on plenty of records, but I doubt there are many other than the die-hards who would know of him. Being in Bonfire isn't exactly setting the world on fire, nor is being the least prominent singer Accept has had. Maybe putting out something under his own name can change that....

I wouldn't count on it, since the most prominent thing said to promote the record is that it features a song written as the theme for a YouTube channel that talks about this kind of music. Reece isn't exactly aiming for the stars here.

The album is very by-the-books traditional heavy metal, too much so, really. Over the twelve tracks, Reece and his band hit on most of the cliches of the style, putting out the sort of record we've all heard a thousand times before. That alone isn't a criticism, but if you're going to do something so standard, it has to be pulled off nearly flawlessly. It doesn't matter how rote something is if the songwriting is expert. Reece can't make that claim on this record.

We get the stomping rhythms of Accept, and some late-era Iron Maiden riffs to open "Collective Anesthesia", but that's not enough. A few guitar parts don't make songs all on their own, and for being an album emblazoned with the name of a singer, Reece doesn't have great melodies to sing. And given how the record is produced, he isn't even pushed out in front enough to be the focus of the music. It's an odd decision to not highlight the man whose name is on the front cover. Maybe they realized Reece's contributions weren't strong enough to rely on. Even when he does come up with a solid chorus, as he does on the title track, the verse getting there is performed with incredibly awkward, faux-Gothic talk-singing that is completely out of place here. It sounds awful.

As for that theme song the album is (literally) centered around; it's the most energetic track on the album, so I'll give it that. But I'm sorry, I can't get even one iota excited about lyrics telling me to "raise your metal voice". The single lamest thing metal has ever done is constantly brag about how metal metal is. I keep resorting to the same advice; if you have to say it, it probably isn't true. I can't even call it humble-bragging, since there's nothing humble about puffing your chest out and telling people what a big man you are. It's over-compensating, and reducing people to the music they listen to, or at least a narrow band of it. That's not exactly an enlightened, empowered view.

So no, David Reece's album is not the 'masterpiece' the press release says it is. It's an album of perfectly acceptable classic heavy metal, with nothing the least bit special about it. Plenty of people want nothing more than comfort food music, and if you're a self-professed metal person looking for that, you'll like this a lot more than I did. I found myself once again asking more existential questions, like why I keep listening to a genre that has no interest in bringing people like me into the fold. Those questions are much more interesting to me than listening to this album.