Double-D Rise To Remain are most famous for being the band of Austin Dickinson son of legendary Bruce Dickinson. Unfortunately this is the most interesting thing about them. Sure the can play well their instruments, sometimes they have good ideas and some catchy songs but the problem is that they lack originality. City Of Vultures is their full length debut and consists of standard melodic metalcore with some influences of traditional metal. Austin is not the best vocalist but he shows his potential especially in death metal growls. If you ignore all these metalcore cliches City Of Vultures is more than good but I expected more. So 3 stars is deserved and I hope next time Rise To Remain will make more original record.

Kingcrimsonprog Rise To Remain impressed me a lot with their fantastic EP Bridges Will Burn and I eagerly anticipated a full length album from the band, which they have now in 2011 delivered with City Of Vultures.

The album includes the singles ‘Nothing Left,’ ‘The Serpent,’ and ‘Power Through Fear,’ all of which are pretty indicative of the album as a whole: Heavy sections, melodic choruses, guitar solos and fun double kick patterns from the excellent Pat Lundy.

Colin Richardson ably handles the production, managing deftly to keep both the heaviness and melody that the band deliver without one overpowering the other and without just creating a bland radio-metal sound.

The album features re-recording of the earlier tracks ‘Nothing Left,’ and ‘Bridges Will Burn,’ which benefit from the improved production job and slicker performances. Some fans will doubtless find it a little overproduced and commercial, but repeat listens should help uncover the heavy songs underneath.

Standout tracks include the aforementioned ‘The Serpent,’ as well as ‘Talking In Whispers,’ and the album highlight ‘Illusions.’

Overall, Rise To Remain are a hugely talented British Metalcore act that you ought to check out if you are into the genre. They aren’t furiously original, but they play this type of music incredibly well. City Of Vultures is a strong album which brilliantly fulfills promise that the band made with their earlier EPs.

Kingcrimsonprog Rise to Remain were unknown to me until recently when they happened to be supporting a more famous band at a concert I was attending. The band put on a fantastic and energetic show, getting the whole crowd into a pretty excited state and absolutely converting me in the process. After the show I just had to buy their Album, but they haven’t released one yet at the time of writing and this EP was the closest thing available.

For an EP released before the band’s debut album is even out, the production quality is absolutely off the chart. The recording and mixing quality sounds better than alot of the genre’s early flag bearer albums. The songwriting is also interesting and perfectly executed.

In a genre with thousands of identical bands doing the metalcore clean singing, occasional thrash riffs, occasional death vocals, twin guitar harmonies with frequent brakedowns formula, Rise To Remain have found a way to stand apart from the crowd.

As The EP is six tracks long I won’t bother selecting standout tracks, because nothing is weak. I will however say that hands down the best track is ‘Illusive Existence,’ and you should check that song out if you need convincing to buy the EP.

It is no wonder Rise To Remain are winning awards and gaining critical respect when their music is this good and the recording quality is already at this advanced stage. Basically if you like bands like Trivium and Shadows Fall and want to hear an extremely talented British version then you simply must check this band out.

Time Signature Illusive existence...

Genre: modern metal (metalcore)

This EP by "Rise to Remain" is okay I think. Musically, it falls under the genre known as metalcore (a genre, I wish had a different name), and it has everything that a metalcore release is supposed to have. Austin Dickinson makes use of growled vocals, screamed vocals, and clean melodic vocals. There are the breakdowns and the shifts between melodic power metal derived fast riffs and aggressive thrash metal derived riffs, and then there are the quiet and very melodic parts. The drums are pounding, borrowing stylistic features from all over the metal universe. In other words, this is pretty generic metalcore.

That being said, I do not thin that "Burning Bridges" is a bad release. In fact, I think that, while a bit generic, it does stand out compared to a lot of other so-called metalcore acts in that I think that a lot of the guitar riffs on this album somehow click better with me than what I typically experience within this genre. This could be because the influences from traditional heavy metal and power metal really shine through in the music, which I personally appreciate, being a fan of good ole 80s heavy metal.

This EP should click with fans of so-called metalcore acts like Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall. I don't know if fans of other metal genres will like this album - that really depends on how open-minded you are. If you categorically reject metalcore, then you will not like this EP, but if you can survive the metalcore tendencies, you migh enjoy a lot of the retrospective elements on this album. "Bridges Will Burn" is promising, and I think that, with some adjustments and a bit more originality, Rise To Remain may become a great name within modern heavy metal music.