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Skullview are one of those bands I had been hearing about, but never got around to actually hearing. So I am very happy to finally rectify this situation. "Consequences Of Failure" was the third and most recent offering from these American True Metal Warriors. They have been working on number four for about three years now, and I hope they are still on track, as this CD is a whole lot of fun.

This band reminds me a lot of Omen or the more recent Battleroar – and those are two very good comparisons. This is metal done the old fashioned way, with no keyboards and very little double-bass abuse. It is melodic, but has way more to do with vintage Iron Maiden than Gamma Ray. Skullview tend to play more midpaced metal than fast, but they also have a tendency to start slow and then keep picking up speed through the song, so by the end they're going full-out. Most of these songs are pretty long, and all of them apply foot to ass in pretty much equal amounts. Singer Quimby Lewis (I'm not making that up) has that classical metal howl that anyone who loves old Maiden will instantly recognize, and axeman Dean Tavernier is a great riff-writer who never stops spinning out cool licks. This is True Heavy Metal in the vein of Twisted Tower Dire, Battleroar, Slough Feg or Omen, complete with fantasy lyrics that make you feel like you're listening to a painting by Frank Frazetta.

Picking faves on this is not easy, because all the songs are cool. "Skullview (Warrior)" has a great chorus, "Palace Of Boundless Cold" is a great rumbling epic, as is the very Sabbathy "Wrath Of The Sorcerer"(Great riffs on that one!). The only track I have a beef with is "The Archmage" which is just a short bit of narration, no music at all. What the fuck?

Overall I would have to say I don't like this one quite as well as "Kings Of The Universe", but this is still a hella cool disc of the kind of old-fashioned metal I love. Raise a meadhorn for Skullview - here's hoping they keep the flame burning.

1. Time For Violence
2. Skullview (Warrior)
3. Palace Of The Boundless Cold
4. Wrath Of The Sorcerer
5. Armed With An Ax
6. The Archmage
7. Seek The Old Man For Knowledge
8. Leviticus
9. Gleam Of The Skull Part 3
10. Digital Bitch