Time Signature Rising danger...

Genre: melodic metal

Treading the waters that separate hard rock from traditional metal, the style of music that Polution treats you to on this album is probably best described as melodic metal. While musically quite different, "Beyond Control" has thus struck the same golden balance that characterizes D-A-D's "No Fuel Left for the Pilgrims" and "Riskin' it All".

Some of the tunes on the album, like 'Live Until You Die' and 'Forever and a Day' teem with hard rock aesthetics, the former being an all out motorcycle-on-the-highway sort of tune while the latter is an AOR-tinged ballad. Another hardrocker is the uplifting "All-In". Other tracks draw more on the aesthetics of traditional heavy metal, but with a focus on melody and accessibility. In this category, we find quite strong tracks such as the melodic and quite catchy 'Follow Me' with its use of inherently melodic and harmonic metal riffage, the bass-centric and Iron Maiden-inspired 'The Band' with its sing-along-friendly chorus, and the self-empowering 'Bite Me' with its pervading fuck-you attitude. More often than not, you will find that the more metallic tracks on the album will feature hard rock elements, and especially the choruses are often kept simple with a couple of chords allowing for really melodic vocal lines.

I quite like this album. The music is heavy and rocks hard, but, at the same time, it is extremely melodic and catchy. The tracks are straight ahead and uncomplicated, and Polution have definitely unlocked the secret of the power of simplicity. It works. It rocks. It's great.

"Beyond Control" is a very good melodic metal release which is both catchy and accessible, yet hard rocking. It should have a very broad appeal is is recommended to metal and general rock fans alike.