{"id":40116,"date":"2014-04-30T08:40:17","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T13:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=40116"},"modified":"2014-04-30T08:40:17","modified_gmt":"2014-04-30T13:40:17","slug":"twilight-messenger-the-world-below-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/twilight-messenger-the-world-below-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Twilight Messenger | The World Below<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"TwilightThe World Below<\/em> is the debut album from Twilight Messenger, a new traditional\/power metal project put together by vocalist Juan \u201cThe Beast\u201d Rodriguez and guitarist\/bassist Andy \u201cCloudRunner\u201d Feehan. The two are probably best known for their metal covers of fantasy songs on YouTube (see \u201cThe Rains of Castamere\u201d), but alongside drummer Chris Johnson have turned their attention to writing and recording their own songs.<\/p>\n

The World Below<\/em> is a concept album, largely about dragons (warriors and battles too, but mostly dragons). It\u2019s understandable if that conjures up images of Rhapsody or similar hyper-melodic, over-orchestrated power metal bands, but Twilight Messenger gives us the rare power metal that\u2019s not overly cheesy and one that has reel teeth. The World Below owes more to traditional metal acts like Accept and Judas Priest than the typical Helloween and Rhapsody influences, and that\u2019s a point in their favor. There are still some symphonic elements, plenty of melodic moments and of course the storyline to keep it in power metal territory though. The thrashing riffs and pounding rhythms keep the blood pumping and heads banging, and Rodriguez\u2019s screaming vocals bring real power to these songs. The occasional harsh vocals bring to mind 3 Inches of Blood, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your tolerance for that sound, and the guest female vocalists are nicely done.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwilight Messenger,\u201d \u201cSword & Steel (By My Axe the Beast Shall Fall)\u201d and \u201cThe Power of Dragonfire\u201d are all highlights of The World Below<\/em>, but it\u2019s the nearly nine-minute \u201cRedemption (Rise of the Golden Dragon)\u201d that really seals the deal, bringing the best of the band\u2019s power and traditional metal sides together in one glorious epic.<\/p>\n

If years of shiny, happy, overblown albums have soured you on the power metal genre, or if you just prefer your power metal to sound like, well, metal, you\u2019d do well to pick up The World Below. Twilight Messenger will especially appeal to fans of bands like Cage, Wolf, Death Dealer and Three Inches of Blood, but ought to win over fans of classic heavy metal bands like Judas Priest and Accept as well.<\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy Metal, Traditional Metal, Power Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nAndrew Feehan (g) (b)
\nJuan Rodriguez (v)
\nChris Johnson (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tTwilight Messenger
\n2.\tSword & Steel (By My Axe the Beast Shall Fall)
\n3.\tThe Archer, The Battlefield & The Silhouette
\n4.\tFireball
\n5.\tThe World Below
\n6.\tEmbers of a New Day
\n7.\tThe Power of Dragonfire
\n8.\tBy Wings of Destiny
\n9.\tRedemption (Rise of the Golden Dragon)
\n10.\tLord of the Dragons<\/p>\n

Label: Stormspell Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.facebook.com\/twilightmessenger<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — The World Below is the debut album from Twilight Messenger, a new traditional\/power metal project put together by vocalist Juan \u201cThe Beast\u201d Rodriguez and guitarist\/bassist Andy \u201cCloudRunner\u201d […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,2491,1097,5930,9230,3605,9229],"class_list":{"0":"post-40116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-heavy-metal","10":"tag-power-metal","11":"tag-stormspell-records","12":"tag-the-world-below","13":"tag-traditional-metal","14":"tag-twilight-messenger"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}