{"id":49077,"date":"2015-04-22T19:49:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T00:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=49077"},"modified":"2015-04-22T19:49:17","modified_gmt":"2015-04-23T00:49:17","slug":"blackwelder-survival-of-the-fittest-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/blackwelder-survival-of-the-fittest-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackwelder | Survival of the Fittest<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Blackwelder\"While the new super-group Level 10 is getting a fair bit of attention, there’s another \u201call-star\u201d project featuring Primal Fear members that is worth noting. Blackwelder is the brainchild of American guitarist Andrew Szucs (formerly of Seven Seraphim), and features none other than Primal Fear vocalist Ralf Scheepers. Blackwelder also includes current Primal Fear (and former Angra) drummer Aquiles Priester and Dio Disciples\/ex-Yngwie Malmsteen bassist Bjorn Englen. The band’s debut album, titled Survival of the Fittest<\/em>, was mixed by Theocracy’s Matt Smith.<\/p>\n

Given the players involved, you have a pretty good idea what’s in store on the Blackwelder debut. Survival of the Fittest<\/em> is undeniably a Heavy Metal album, and it’s one that has elements of Progressive, Power and Neoclassical metal. Szucs brings a high degree of technicality to these songs, and his soloing in particular is jaw-dropping. And of course Priester brings his own impressive technique to the band. Musically, Blackwelder has elements in common with Balance of Power, Pyramaze and especially Yngwie Malmsteen. It’s when Ralf Scheepers’s instantly recognizable vocals come in that you start thinking power metal. He brings tremendous power and an additional level of melody to these songs. It’s his presence that really elevates this album to \u201cmust hear\u201d status.<\/p>\n

High points on Survival of the Fittest<\/em> include leadoff track \u201cNight of New Moon,\u201d \u201cRemember the Time\u201d and closer \u201cJudgment Day,\u201d which probably comes closest of all these songs to a Primal Fear sound. The instrumental \u201cAdeturi\u201d is also pretty remarkable from a purely technical standpoint.<\/p>\n

If you’re a fan of any of the players involved, you’re going to want to hear this. Blackwelder may not be breaking any new ground, but it’s always good to hear first-rate musicians paired with a vocalist of Scheepers’s caliber. And hey, if you ever wondered what an Yngwie Malmsteen album might sound like with Ralf Scheepers on vocals, Survival of the Fittest<\/em> is about as close as you’re going to get!<\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, Neoclassical Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nRalf Scheepers (v)
\nAndrew Szucs (g)
\nBjorn Englen (b)
\nAquiles Priester (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tThe Night of New Moon
\n2.\tSpaceman
\n3.\tAdeturi
\n4.\tFreeway of Life
\n5.\tInner Voice
\n6.\tWith Flying Colors
\n7.\tRemember the Time
\n8.\tPlay Some More
\n9.\tOriental Spell
\n10.\tJudgment Day<\/p>\n

Label: GoldenCore, ZYX<\/p>\n

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

Hardrock Haven rating: 7.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — While the new super-group Level 10 is getting a fair bit of attention, there’s another \u201call-star\u201d project featuring Primal Fear members that is worth noting. Blackwelder is […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":49078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[9312,2317,9329,2491,11141,259,1098,11142,10785,11140],"class_list":{"0":"post-49077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-blackwelder","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-goldencore","11":"tag-heavy-metal","12":"tag-neoclassical-metal","13":"tag-primal-fear","14":"tag-progressive-metal","15":"tag-ralf-scheepers","16":"tag-survival-of-the-fittest","17":"tag-zyx"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49077","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=49077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}