If you’ve worked in an office in the last decade or so, you’re over-familiar with the word synergy. That particular managerial buzzword is the process by which individual parts combine to form something greater than their actual sum, like the Constructicons forming Devastator, or milk chocolate and peanut butter making the glorious Reese’s cup.
And if you’ve worked in an office ever, you’re likely equally familiar (though not as bored) with the concept of antagonism. That’s the term for the process wherein individual pieces work against each other for a result less than the expected sum, like when the inept middle manager’s inability to do his/her job prevents you from adequately doing yours.
In theory, power/thrash should easily fall into the former category – the harsher, faster tones of thrash should add grit and spark while power metal’s bombast and dynamics contribute a melodic component and some more memorable songcraft. It appears to be simple mathematics – fiery anger + catchy soaring metal = fiery angry soaring awesomeness.
In practice, it’s still a case-by-case basis.
Enter England’s Savage Messiah, now on their fourth full-length album in seven years. I skipped out on 2012’s Plague Of Conscience because 2009’s Insurrection Rising left little lasting mark. And The Fateful Dark is no real improvement, regrettably. It’s a similar, if arguably more power-ish, take on mid-tempo melodic metal, with the gleeful spirit of power metal tempered against thrash aggression, the edges of both dulled into a spit-shined genero-thrash sheen that is neither particularly savage nor even moderately messianic.
Before I sound too negative, let me state this: Savage Messiah is absolutely competent. They’re nearly flawless in their acceptably average attack that falls between the two pillars of their chosen sound, losing in the process the best parts of both. Vocalist Dave Silver has a bitey mid-range that sits somewhere between thrashing viciousness and metal-god acrobatics; though he mostly sticks to a solid middle register snarl, he reaches into falsetto screeches enough to show that he can. The guitar-work is solid, if never particularly inspired; the production is slick, professional, and modern.
But as was my complaint with Insurrection Rising, there’s nothing on The Fateful Dark that isn’t just by-the-book – it’s all vaguely powerful thrashing metal in the vein of Heathen, mid-period Metallica or Megadeth, and so on. It’s executed competently, except that it’s boring. Moments like the groovy chorus riff in “Zero Hour” stand above the rest, those best bits often stranded as that one is, counter-weighted into the depths by the boring riffs and melodies on either side. Its few scattered above-average moments aside, overall, The Fateful Dark is almost entirely forgettable, from top to bottom. Pedal-pointed thrash-by-numbers riffs run headlong into melodic choruses or groovy segments. The component parts are there – for something at least better than this result, if nothing particularly outside the box either way. Still, none of it adds up to where it should, and even in checking all the boxes, somewhere in the intangible void of inspiration, Savage Messiah falls short.
This isn’t terrible, but you’ve heard this before. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve heard it done better.
Behold the sound of adequacy.
[Author’s note: If you get the bonus version of The Fateful Dark, you get three additional cover tracks, including a version of Iron Maiden‘s “Be Quick Or Be Dead,” one of that band’s least necessary moments. My promo didn’t include those tracks, so I can’t comment on them. If a genero-thrash take on one of Maiden’s worst singles sounds like something you need to hear, by all means, track down the expanded edition…]
