Band: Righteous Vendetta
Title: The Dawning
Label: Red Cord Records
Release Date: August 17, 2010
Review By: Steve
Track Listing:
1. Intro
2. In Tents (Like Camping)
3. Foretold
4. Essence
5. The Dawning
6. Rex Tryon
7. Away From The Truth
8. A Breath Beneath
9. New Normal
10. Outro
It is my pleasure to introduce IVM to Righteous Vendetta! When I agreed to do the review, I never thought in a million years that the album would be this good. Righteous Vendetta is a five-piece melodic metalcore band out of Cody, Wyoming. They recently signed to Red Cord Records and will release their debut full-length, The Dawning, on 8/17/2010. They released a four-song EP in December entitled The Complexity of the Fallen on their own.
RV reminds me a lot of For Today with some clean vocals thrown in. In my opinion, there are very few bands that should mix in clean vocals with their metal. Clean vocals on a metal/hardcore album are one of the aspects of an album that can really make or break an album regardless of anything else. Too many times before have I heard great albums with great screaming and growling only to be turned off by clean vocals. I would prefer that no clean vocals were in my metal (or hardcore), but since in the grand scheme of things my opinion means nothing, I guess bands will continue to experiment with them. RV is one of the few bands that have the talent to mix in the clean with the hard.
RV refuses to pull any punches with their Christ-centered lyrics. Lead vocalist Ryan Hayes does an excellent job of mixing in the clean screaming with the clean vocals. In a “Foretold” there is a spot a little more than half way through where RV mixes in some lower growls with higher growls on top to create a great mix and give the listener something new. The clean vocals keep a rock edge to them. The lyrics of RV cover a whole range of issues from the second coming to searching for rest in Christ. Musically, for the most part RV plays fast and heavy with some great rolling and bursting riffs mixed in with some heavy machine gun double bass.
My favorite tracks on The Dawning are “Foretold,” “The Dawning,” and “Rex Tryon.” “Rex Tryon” stands out as the most unique track and is probably my favorite due to the unique bursting riffs used throughout the track. Along with the unique riffs, RV throws in some piano in the last minute of the song with some recitation from Psalm 95. Some of the recitation is, “1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth…”
Overall: Righteous Vendetta has burst on the scene and put out a terrific debut full-length. I have no idea where Cody, Wyoming is but I do know that this is a great album that every melodic metal fan should own. The Dawning will be on my iPod for quite a while. Do yourself a favor and check these guys out and support their music.