AREA 54 „Beckoning Of The End”

This London based quartet are a newcomer to the metal scene but it looks like they have been honing there craft for some time by there sound. The band consists of Lakis Kyriscou (lead & rhythm guitar & vox), Rob Hillman (drums, Laura Salmon (bass), Steve Martin (guitar). This disc has many sounds to it and for the most part all of them have been heard before but the have a way of presenting them that make this disc fun to listen to. The over all sound of this disc is like throwing Iron Maiden, Iced Earth and Megadeth in a blender and that is what you would get. The refreshing part is all the sounds are of the old school style. The vocal work on this disc is the only area that in my opinion could use a lot of work. This style of vocals are to pretty and to overplayed for this CD in my opinion. There is just something with the voice that loses me. Lakis Is splitting time with the lead guitar work and the vocals here and where I done think that his voice is all that bad I just don't think his voice fits the style. Many people may think his sound is just fine I just cant a place for it with the music.
Now the main highlight of the CD is by far the over all guitar work. There are riffs on here that will have you banging your head and some real nice hooks that will just grab you and pull you in but its the old school sound that will just put a smile on your face. I do believe that it would benefit the band if Lakis would surrender the vocal work to a full time singer and concentrate on the guitar work for I think he is more talented there. Due to the one little glitch this disc receives a 7 out of 10. I would love to see what this band could do with another singer.