adg211288 The Rise of Resistance (2013) is the fourth full-length album by German power metal act Circle of Silence. The band aren't one that I'd encountered before but theirs is a case that I'm really glad that I did at such a time when they'd put an album like The Rise of Resistance out, because what we have here is some really fine work, the kind of power metal that is decidedly non-cheesy and packs plenty of punch.

Let's get straight down to the why of that. The Rise of Resistance isn't just a power metal release, but a power-thrash release. While thrash metal elements do overall play a supporting role in Circle of Silence's sound rather than consistently fusing the two genres, they are present during the album on a regular basis. To mix things up a bit against these two fast paced genres the band also include some slower paced sections on rare occasion to break it up a bit. Generally speaking the riffs themselves waver between power and thrash styles but the aggression of the music has thrash written all over it, although German power metal itself does have a tendency for leaving the cheese and having an extra side of heaviness. The Rise of Resistance is the sort of album that would sit comfortably alongside any Blind Guardian or Grave Digger classic without ripping either band off. Looking towards the US Iced Earth would be another valid reference towards how Circle of Silence sound. The vocals of Niklas Keim also vary between the two styles heard here, and he's a great vocalist either way.

Circle of Silence also has the songs to go with the killer sound. Not a band to mess around with useless little intros/interludes/outros, The Rise of Resistance is twelve tracks of consistently high quality work with a focus on awesome riffs and vocals. While a couple of tracks are of a lesser quality in terms of the overall release, namely Nothing Shall Remain and The Architect of Immortality, we're usually dealing with exceptional work here with a few absolute belters that I know are going to keep finding their way into random playlists I put together at times. I'm talking about songs like An Oncoming Storm and In the Absence of Your God, the former being the very best on offer, even if it's opening riff does sound suspiciously like Iced Earth's Days of Rage. An exceptional grade rating is deserved overall, this is definitely is one of the minority group of power metal albums that should find fans in people who don't normally give this stuff the time of day.

91/100

(originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/circle-of-silence-the-rise-of-resistance-t3058.html)