Being on American Idol is a double edged sword. In the event you last long enough to become a finalist, you’re almost guaranteed a record deal and/or a music career in some form or another. But then you have to “prove yourself” to the critics and music snobs who will automatically dismiss you as a “poser” for going down this “get rich quick” route. If James Durbin hasn’t proved himself worthy of our praise with his latest album, The Beast Awakens, I don’t know who has.
The Beast Awakens is the first album released under the Durbin moniker and hence a new chapter in this Idol’s musical journey. The name change makes sense as this album has nothing in common with his previous mainstream hard rock output. Instead, we’re presented with an enthralling collection of pure old school metal. There’s occasional flashes of power metal and doom metal, sometimes both within a single song. Though no matter what label you want to give it, The Beast Awakens is a more convincing display of 80s metal worship than 99.9% of the haphazardly labelled “NWOTHM” albums released over the past 5 years.
The influence of Ronnie James Dio is strong throughout Durbin’s vocals, the music, and the overall atmosphere. Tracks like “Kings Before You” and “The Sacred Mountain” have that “power doom” sound of Dio era Sabbath. The only other band playing such a style today and excelling at it is Smoulder. Meanwhile, “Riders on the Wind” and “The Prince of Metal” share the same straightforward Dungeons & Dragons spirit as Dio’s solo output. Durbin accomplishes his mission of transporting the listener to this otherworldly realm of “The Prince”, just as Dio did in the 80s with tales like “Sacred Heart”, “Holy Diver”, and “Egypt (The Chain Are On)”.
Another massive influence on Durbin is the Swedish hard rock and metal scene. In particular, many of these songs contain riffs and melodies that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Ghost song. The AOR tinged “Into the Flames” and “By the Horns” recall Papa Emeritus whatever number he’s on now and company’s latest works, with perhaps a pinch of H.I.M. thrown in. Contrasting this is “Evil Eye” and the title track, which channel the darkness of Ghost’s debut, Opus Eponymous.
Closing it all out is “Rise to Valhalla”. This is a battle hymn in the truest sense of the term. It’s the type of full throttle “fight to the death” epic that combines the finest elements of power metal post-Thundersteel: pristine vocals, machine gun riffing, and an unstoppable rhythm section. Assuming Durbin’s next album continues this mythos, I’m not sure how he’s going to pick up where this track leaves off.
Aside from the obvious Idol stigma, another criticism Durbin is bound to get is his fascination with fantasy themed lyrics and imagery. Various online metal critics will dismiss these tropes as “cliché” and “cheesy”, all the while blowing their load over C grade Entombed worship. Mind you, these were the same uptight nerds who last year dismissed Cirith Ungol’s masterpiece comeback album, Forever Black, for sounding “too dated”. The truth is, these hipsters posing as metalheads don’t get traditional metal and never will. I’m not saying I’m your “resident traditional metal expert”, but as someone who was proudly listening to UFO, Thin Lizzy, and Saxon at a young age while these bozos were thrashing it up to Havok, or worse yet, crowdkilling to *insert Warped Tour parking lot stage scenecore band here*…yeah, I am. And as the self proclaimed “resident traditional metal expert”, I’m throwing The Beast Awakens into the ring as an early contender for album of the year. Job well done James Durbin. Lay down your sword and bask in the glory.
10 out of 10
Label: Frontiers Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Dio, Black Sabbath, Ghost