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│ METAL CLASSICS ARCHIVE │
│ │
│ │
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│ P R E S E N T S │
│ │
│ │
│ + Masquerade - Surface Of Pain + │
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│ │
│╔═════════════════════╗ │
│║ Release Information ║ │
│╠═════════════════════╩══════════════════════════════════════════╗ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Release Date.nov-18-2014 Encoder......L3.97 -V2 --vbr-new ║ │
│║ Genre........Metal Graber.......EAC ║ │
│║ Year.........1994 Khz/Bitrate..44,1/ Br ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Ripper.......anthem Songs........12 ║ │
│║ Covers.......Yes Url... n/a ║ │
│║ ║ │
│╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ │
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│╔═════════════════════╗ │
│║ Release Notes ║ │
│╠═════════════════════╩══════════════════════════════════════════╗ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Artist : Masquerade Rating : You Decide! ║ │
│║ Album : Surface Of Pain Label : Empire ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ ║ │
│╠════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Description : ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ You know, if you just took these individual ║ │
│║ songs and looked at them separately you'd ║ │
│║ probably find them to be good, but not great, a ║ │
│║ low 60 or so. However, I'm giving this a ║ │
│║ substantially lower score because, sweet Jesus, ║ │
│║ the tracks on this album are poorly arranged and ║ │
│║ by the end of this thing you'll just want to ║ │
│║ throw the CD out the window. It's solid, ║ │
│║ occasionally pretty good music, but with a ║ │
│║ certain sickly sweet taste that creates ║ │
│║ headaches and resembles nothing so much as ║ │
│║ gorging on cheap candy. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ The front half of this album is pretty solid, ║ │
│║ introducing you to the band's grunge-influenced ║ │
│║ power metal, "Judas Kiss" being a primer on this ║ │
│║ album's overly mechanical production (think ║ │
│║ digitized vocals), oddly tribal rhythm section, ║ │
│║ and (accented) standard hair vocal. The song is ║ │
│║ comprised of strange white metal lyrics that ║ │
│║ seem to obliquely reference stigmata, or perhaps ║ │
│║ menstruation. Eesh. The next song, "Say Your ║ │
│║ Prayer" offers no such ambiguity by hitting you ║ │
│║ over the head. Kids, this is a religious band. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ But hear ye, hear ye, they also have CONCERNS ║ │
│║ about IMPORTANT THINGS. The pounding "State of ║ │
│║ Grace" (complete with samples!) and "America" do ║ │
│║ a lot to give the impression that Masquerade is ║ │
│║ not happy with the way things are, but give the ║ │
│║ further and far more impactful impression that ║ │
│║ well, Rage Against the Machine they ainÆt. ║ │
│║ Protest songs tend to be more effective when the ║ │
│║ band appears to have some idea what they're ║ │
│║ nattering about. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ However, "America" is a pretty good 'epic' with ║ │
│║ a nice crunchy riff and some good melodies ║ │
│║ throughout. It should be mentioned that ║ │
│║ Masquerade do come up with a few doozies from ║ │
│║ time to time, but lines like "In America, this ║ │
│║ hysterica, in America" tend to bury any good ║ │
│║ faith this buys under a pile of crap. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ I do have a soft spot in my heart (or head) for ║ │
│║ the bouncy, leonine "Electric Eye"-style ║ │
│║ "Suffering", one part strafing speed metal, one ║ │
│║ part big anthemic (and totally balless) chorus, ║ │
│║ a song so inherently catchy that I think I've ║ │
│║ listened to it at least thirty times (number of ║ │
│║ times I managed to slog through the whole album: ║ │
│║ two). I swear the melody on the third verse is ║ │
│║ directly lifted from another song, but I'll be ║ │
│║ damned if I can recall it. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ The rest of the songs are bland, but inoffensive ║ │
│║ (ignore the horribly drawn out "God of Man"), ║ │
│║ save for "Mercy Me" which is a powerful rocker ║ │
│║ that cherry picks from a good number of sources ║ │
│║ and oddly, forecasts the style of the more epic ║ │
│║ compositions on Metallica's Reload record with ║ │
│║ it's melody and (somewhat) a certain subtle ║ │
│║ similarity in the guitar tone. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Still, very much a waste of time and real ║ │
│║ struggle to get through. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Stand-Outs: ôSufferingö, ôMercy Meö, ôAmericaö ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ ║ │
│╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ │
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│╔═════════════════════╗ │
│║ Release Tracklist ║ │
│╚═════════════════════╩══════════════════════════════════════════ │
│ │
│ 01 - Judas Kiss [04:33] │
│ 02 - Say Your Prayer [04:13] │
│ 03 - State Of Grace [05:50] │
│ 04 - Suffering [04:02] │
│ 05 - End Of Nothing [04:27] │
│ 06 - America [05:24] │
│ 07 - God Of Man [06:17] │
│ 08 - Violation [04:52] │
│ 09 - Feels Good [04:18] │
│ 10 - Wasteland [04:40] │
│ 11 - Mercy Me [04:58] │
│ 12 - Free My Mind [05:06] │
│ │
│ Total Length : [58:40 minn │
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│ ╔═════════════════════╗ │
│ ║ Greetings To: ║ │
│ ╚═════════════════════╝ │
│ │
│ Too all people who contributes to make this │
│ archive of good music in a exceptional conditions │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│■ ■│
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