{"id":50758,"date":"2015-12-13T16:48:42","date_gmt":"2015-12-13T21:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=50758"},"modified":"2015-12-13T16:48:42","modified_gmt":"2015-12-13T21:48:42","slug":"final-sign-hold-high-the-flame-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/final-sign-hold-high-the-flame-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Sign Hold High the Flame<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Sr. Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"FinalHold High the Flame is the debut album from North Carolina-based Traditional Heavy Metal band Final Sign, which was put together by October 31 guitarist Brian \u201cHellstorm\u201d Williams and features Livesay\/Line of Fire vocalist Shawn Pelata. The two had previously collaborated in the band K-Octave, and it’s apparent from the very start of Hold High the Flame<\/em> that their chemistry remains strong.<\/p>\n

Hold High the Flame<\/em> is a straight-up, uncompromising Heavy Metal album that captures the very best elements of the Classic Heavy\/Power\/Speed Metal era. Williams, true to form, delivers riff after blistering riff to get heads banging. And even with the high speed riffing and steady, pounding rhythms, there’s just enough melody to keep it from becoming a total shred fest. Factor in a powerhouse vocal performance from Pelata (and if you only know him from his more melodic Line of Fire albums, this will be an eye-opener) and you have a fantastic mix of old school sounds.<\/p>\n

The touchstones for Final Sign’s sound are bands like Metal Church, Reverend, Vicious Rumors and Exciter. The opening tracks \u201cDaring the Sun\u201d and \u201cBurn the Temple Down\u201d recall some of the best Geoff Thorpe\/Carl Albert collaborations, while songs like \u201cPossessor\u201d and \u201cThe Ominous Black\u201d bring equally massive doses of speed and heaviness. And like the best of those classic ’80s metal albums, Hold High the Flame<\/em> never wears out its welcome. Eight songs, 38 minutes, and all killer.<\/p>\n

America already has quite the roster of high caliber Traditional Heavy Metal bands, and Final Sign is a more than worthy addition to that list. Hold High the Flame<\/em> is a very impressive debut, and one of the better traditional metal albums 2015 has to offer. Whether your tastes run to the old school \u2013 Vicious Rumors, Reverend, Heretic \u2013 the new \u2013 Enforcer, Wulfhook, Twisted Tower Dire \u2013 or any point in-between, you will want to discover Final Sign. <\/p>\n

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

Band:
\nHoward Baker (b)
\nKevin Haverlah (d)
\nBrian Williams (g)
\nShawn Pelata (v)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tDaring the Sun
\n2.\tBurn the Temple Down
\n3.\tHold High the Flame
\n4.\tPossessor
\n5.\tThe Sinister Silence
\n6.\tScaling Lies
\n7.\tMadness Eternal
\n8.\tThe Ominous Black<\/p>\n

Label: Divebomb Records<\/p>\n

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

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

by Justin Gaines – Sr. Columnist — Hold High the Flame is the debut album from North Carolina-based Traditional Heavy Metal band Final Sign, which was put together by October 31 guitarist Brian \u201cHellstorm\u201d Williams […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":50760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[2317,923,11734,11892,9084],"class_list":{"0":"post-50758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-divebomb-records","10":"tag-final-sign","11":"tag-hold-high-the-flame","12":"tag-shawn-pelata"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50758","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=50758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}