By Jonny Bakes
I’ve managed to bag myself another oddball release that promises covers of songs in a style that is pretty far removed from their original style. I mean, this album has covers of both Arch Enemy and Wham! – two bands that I don’t believe have any real crossover whatsoever unless someone is going to tell me otherwise. Perhaps Alyssa White-Gluz was raised listening to ‘Club Tropicana’ and ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’… I guess we’ll never know – but then it’s also not really the point of this review!
What I have before me is a collection consisting of recent EPs and singles from The Last Reign so, if you’re already a big fan, you may have heard all this before. But for me, it’s my first time listening to this ÜS melodic death metal outfit so I’ve got the pleasure of hearing all of this for the first time so I’m pretty excited to hear the range of covers from ‘Too Darn Loud’, the 8-bit video game stylings of ‘It’s Dangerous to Go Alone’ and the recent single ‘Sands of Fate’ to get a taste of The Last Reign’s original work.
While I’m pretty excited about the prospect of some original material, those who know me will have probably predicted that I would gravitate towards the ‘Too Darn Loud’ segment of the album. One, because I’m a huge fan of ‘Back To The Future’ and could spot the reference from a mile off and, two, because the prospect of melodeath covers of ‘Careless Whisper’ and Huey’s ‘The Power of Love’ were just too darn tempting to pass up.
The former manages to take hold of the classic saxophone melody and shape it into a heavy melodic guitar riff which is still instantly recognizable. The harsh vocals make the whole song take a bit of a sinister turn but it’s absolutely working for me and will definitely be a regular road trip track! It ends up sounding like a cover that Children of Bodom would have brought out at their height and if that excites you as much as it does me, then get on board!
But let’s talk about the BTTF classic as it was something I was admittedly a bit wary about covering but you know what? It absolutely works as a strangely upbeat melodeath track that still maintains the rhythm and main riff of the original, in fact it’s mostly down to the blast beats and harsh vocals that gives The Last Reign spin on it.
Immediately after this is the ‘It’s Dangerous To Go Alone’ segment which I’m sure most people will realize is a nod to the Legend of Zelda game series, so I was not surprised that the title track opens with the iconic melody from the games theme. This is the only non-instrumental track for this part of the album though, with the remaining four tracks all being impressive chiptune covers of tracks from the band’s debut full length album. Coincidentally, chiptune is another thing that really floats my boat so I was pretty happy with this change of direction and found myself getting lost in the well crafted retro reimaginings of what were already impressive metal bangers.
Looping back to the original track that opens the album, ‘Sands of Fate’, that creates a bombastic opening for the album with some serious fire. There’s some pretty clear influence from Arch Enemy here which is great as far as I’m concerned! Everything packs enough punch to please even the hardiest of metal fans with quality harsh and raspy vocals with fantastic guitar melodies that combine into an unstoppable force. It’s a really well produced track with all of the different elements getting their fair share of air time with nothing being overpowered by another element as can sometimes be the case in heavier genres. This may be my first taste of The Last Reign’s original music but it certainly won’t be my last!
‘Endangered Pieces…’ may be an eclectic collection but it manages to appeal to my wide variety of tastes perfectly. For those who have already gotten a taste of The Last Reign then this collection offers an opportunity to delve into some of the rarities and own some of them in a physical format for the first time! The selection of covers is pretty silly to say the least but they are all crafted into blistering melodeath numbers that will confuse and wow your mates (as long as they are as easily pleased as mine anyway…)
So, all in all, ‘Endangered Pieces’ will be well looked after in my zoo of a music collection, and I hope it finds a home in many of yours too as it really does deserve to get some attention!
- ‘Endangered Pieces Volume One’ is out now.
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