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Review: Them - Fear City
Them
www.them666.com
Fear City

Label: Steamhammer
Year released: 2022
Duration: 47:02
Tracks: 14
Genre: Heavy/Power Metal

Rating:
3.5/5


Review online: November 2, 2022
Reviewed by: MetalMike
Readers' Rating
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Rated 4/5 (80%) (5 Votes)
Review

The last album by Them I reviewed was their 2018 effort, Manor of the Se7en Gables. I missed the next one but am back in their King Diamond world with 2022's Fear City. Them grew out of a King Diamond tribute band and, for those not familiar, just about everything they do can be traced back to the Danish legend and his eponymous band. Fear City is a concept record (because that's what King Diamond did most of the time, natch) based in the excesses of the 1980s and featuring a demonic thread. There's plenty of neoclassical guitar work and varied vocals from high-pitched shrieks to low growls with the song "The Crossing of Hellgate Bridge" bringing the whole King Diamon aesthetic together. I said in my review of Manor that Them had a way to go before they were on par with their hero and not much has changed in the intervening years. They do all the things you listen to King Diamond albums like Them and Conspiracy for, just not at the same level. They also do a few things that I don't care for, like nicking the opening line of "22 Acacia Avenue" at the start of "Retro 54" as well as adding some silly dialogue designed to move the story forward, some styled after the DJ from the movie The Warriors. Did they try to think outside the box? Sure. Did it work? Not really. Fear City has its entertaining moments, especially if classic King Diamond with some Deris-era Helloween power metal songwriting sounds appealing to you, but to me it is an album memorable for some things I didn't find so great as much as for things I did.

More about Them...
Review: Manor of the Se7en Gables (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Sweet Hollow (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
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