Quick Reviews: Phantom Elite & Demons Down

This week's two-fer is:

Phantom Elite - Blue Blood

There are so many new bands popping up, I feel bad for how many of them I forget before their next album comes around. When I was opening this new Phantom Elite album, it wasn't until I read the accompanying press materials that I realized I had listened to their previous one. Like so much music, anything that doesn't do something special to catch my attention gets swallowed by the never-ending torrent of releases. I feel bad about it, but it's largely out of my control.

With this album, I'm not sure if that will change. Their music is thoroughly modern and heavy, mixing those deep djent riffs with big choruses. Marina is more than capable as a singer, and it's easy to hear this album fitting in with the current trends of the scene. And therein lies the problem; Phantom Elite sounds like a combination of what is popular, and not as much like a band with their own unique personality. When they shift from ultra heavy riffing on one song, to an almost trip-hop beat during the verses of the next, and throw in some screaming in the next, the pieces don't feel like they all come from the same puzzle.

After a while, the bouncing between sounds loses its novelty, and it becomes a drag on the album. As soon as you hear something interesting, the band shifts gears into something completely different. It's hard for me to stay engaged when every second I'm worried they're about to pull the rug out from under me. We don't want everything to sound exactly the same, but there is a degree to which when I put on a record by a band, it's because I want to hear the band's sound. Phantom Elite doesn't have one, and that's why I ultimately get bored of this record. And probably why I had forgotten the last one.

Demons Down - I Stand

I feel a bit sorry for James Robledo. When his band Sinner's Blood put out their album, I really liked it, and I nearly put it on my year-end list. Since then, he has been on what seems like half a dozen records, trying to get two or three other projects off the ground, all the while the band that caught my attention has done nothing. He is quickly turning into Ronnie Romero, who is a hired-gun I cannot bring myself to care about in the slightest, because he will seemingly sing anything that gets put in front of him.

He's a talented singer, but when the impression I get is that he doesn't have any connection to what he's singing beyond the signature on the recording contract, how am I supposed to care? Romero recently commented that in a decade he's has a career it would normally take thirty years to achieve. That might be true in quantity, but almost none of his work has made any sort of impact, because his omnipresence makes it hard to get invested in any one of them in particular. Robledo is headed down that road, and we all know who to blame (hint; the same people are responsible for both men's situation).

With three members of House Of Lords in the band, it's pretty obvious what this is going to sound like. It's lovely melodic rock with plenty of keyboards, that kind of music that is a bit too heavy to really be AOR, but isn't what you would really call 'heavy' either. Again, if you know House Of Lords, you know what I mean here. The good news is that I do enjoy that style, and this album is actually done better than the last two or three albums from that group. In particular, Robledo's voice has more body and depth to it, so the melody doesn't feel as shrill as it hits your ears.

This record is very familiar, but it's done very well. I enjoyed it.