Time Signature Bite my shiny metal ass...

Genre: US power metal

A German band who plays US power metal with bits of traditional metal and chunks of thrash metal - now, that sounds promising. I mean power-thrash kicks ass!

That is what I though before listening to this album and, unfortunately, I must admit that I was a bit disappointed. It's not that I think that "The Dark Half" is crappy, worthless music, because it isn't. It's not bad, and there are plenty pretty cool thrash metal elements that lift the energy up to an exciting level, while the riffage is mostly pretty solid.

Still, the the album lacks something, in my opinion. Firstly, the production is a bit too fuzzy for this sort of metal, I think, and the mix is a bit unbalanced, and the vocals are too dominant. Also, the vocals themselves probably take some getting used to - it sounds a bit like Mark Shelton from Manilla Road, which definitely is not a bad thing, but it is the sort of singing that does not sit well with everybody.

Unfortunately for me, the production and the vocals bother me a bit and deduct from the listening experience. Still, as mentioned above, "The Dark Half" is not a bad album, and I am sure that many fans of power-thrash and US power metal will enjoy this release immensely.