Posted on: September 22, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

The opening of “Freak Waves” seems to give a nod to the grunge rock pushed forth by bands like Soundgarden and Kyuss about fifteen years ago; the vocals present on this track are perhaps the most obvious part of this. At nearly five minutes, the repetitive guitar lines are at the verge of turning most listeners off from the CD. With “Disjointed”, the band seems to bring disaster on itself with a track length that is over twice what “Freak Waves”.

The track does bring more to the table, but End of Level Boss does tend to suffer in regards to the fact of bringing enough material to the track. With “Vivid”, the band seems to move a little farther towards a Pantera-type of things, and keeps away from vocals to further infuse the track with a deep and dark sound that was not quite as prevalent during the earlier part of the disc. The random sections that are strewn about the track makes for a very chaotic type of sound, and distracts listeners a little from the main thrust of the track. “Spine Transfer” is the first example of End of Level Boss succeeding and coming up with something that is compelling and linked together instead of having flashes of brilliance strewn about a track. On the shorter end of things with a four and a half minute song, “Spine Transfer” is where the band needs to go with further tracks; start at point A and build off of that in a linear way until you feel that the track is over. The much more open ended “Step The Mind Gap” goes back to the same form of stoner rock that started off “Prologue”; what is shown during this track is a multiple-layered attack that actually works with each part of the band instead of everything working at odds.

End of Level Boss bring a certain fury to all of the tracks on “Prologue”, but seem to lack a certain direction at times during this disc. If the band would work more together and create a disc of tracks like “Spine Transfer”, perhaps this album would be closer to the top of newer metal albums rather than at the middle. There is some talent here in End of Level Boss, but nothing that really allows the album to be distinguished from the masses of other metal that floods the market seemingly every day.

Top Tracks: Hedonophobia, Freak Waves

Rating: 4.2/10

End of Level Boss – Prologue / 2005 Exile on Mainstream / 8 Tracks / http://www.eolb.com / http://www.mainstreamrecords.de / Reviewed 16 January 2006

[JMcQ]

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