CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED "Charred Walls of the Damned"

CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED "Charred Walls of the Damned" - (Richard Christie's new band features Ripper Owens on the mic, Steve Digiorgio on bass and some dude on guitar. considering that this has alumni from Death, Control Denied and iced Earth, I figured this would be some uber-technical power metal, but it is surprisingly straight forward. yes, it is technical, but it is music and not mathematical formulas and sounds like a cross between Control Denied and Leash Law with a hint of early Fates Warning. the choruses border into the ballad territory and though are all the songs are really good, they seem a bit restrained and never quite as balls out as you would hope. also, a lot of the songs seem to blur together, but Ripper sounds amazing, giving what may be his best performance yet. the bestest and most solid tracks are the first and last tracks - "Ghost Town" and "Fear in the Sky", though "Manifestations" and "Voices Within the Walls" also kill. the bonus "making of" DVD features Richard Christie feeding a duck, some hilarious impersonations of the Caruso of our time - John Tardy, praise for Helen Hunt, drinking beer and eating breakfast at a flea market, an Amon Amarth sing-along and the cripple guitarist going to the bathroom. overall, pretty good stuff, but sure they can top it on their next record…) Click to Buy From FYE