CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED – Charred Walls of the Damned

Charred Walls of the Damned – Charred Walls of the Damned (2010, Metal Blade Records)

CD
1. “Ghost Town” … 4:56
2. “From the Abyss” … 4:26
3. “Creating Our Machine” … 2:53
4. “Blood on Wood” … 3:26
5. “In a World So Cruel” … 3:31
6. “Manifestations” … 3:07
7. “Voices Within Walls” … 3:49
8. “The Darkest Eyes” … 3:37
9. “Fear in the Sky” … 5:43

Bonus DVD
The Making of Charred Walls of the Damned

Band:
Tim “Ripper” Owens – Vocals
Jason Suecof – Guitar
Steve DiGiorgio – Bass
Richard Christy – Drums

Producer: Jason Suecof

Charred Walls of the Damned are a heavy metal “super group” formed by drummer Richard Christy (Death, Iced Earth) featuring Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest, Beyond Fear, Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen) on vocals. The band also includes guitarist Jason Suecof (who is in a death metal band called Capharnaum and has produced tons of modern metal acts like Trivium, All That Remains, Black Dahlia Murder) and bassist Steve DiGiorgio (who has played for Death, Testament, Iced Earth and Sebastian Bach of all people!). Of these names, all I recognized was Ripper but further research makes me realize I do know who Richard Christy is– that weird guy from Howard Stern.

I don’t like death metal or most modern metal, I barely pay attention to thrash and Iced Earth isn’t a favorite of mine. My friend texted me and told me I needed to check out this band, but going by the modern-sounding name of the band, I just kind of blew it off. He’s into modern and heavier stuff than I am so I just figured it was one of his types of bands. The next day, out of boredom and remembering that he recommended Cold and Puddle of Mudd to me all those years ago, I looked them up on MySpace and was pleasantly surprised to find out Ripper was on vocals and that “Ghost Town” was actually a pretty good song even if it took me a few listens to warm up to it.

I guess I would describe this band as a combination of traditional heavy metal, power metal, speed metal and thrash metal. I’ve seen other reviews stating that there’s a touch of death metal as well, but it never comes off as that brutal and heavy to my ears. There’s definitely a modern edge to the songs though, not in a mainstream way, but it keeps up with those types of metal bands that Jason Suecof has produced. This isn’t surprising considering Suecof produced this album as well.

I picked this album up for $10 at FYE and it was well worth the investment. They seemed to be pushing metal bands pretty hard these days, most new metal releases have a $9.99 sale tag on them. There’s even a section devoted to these sale items. I’m glad my friend alerted me of this band otherwise even if I saw the album in store, I probably would made assumptions based on the name and album art alone and never picked it up. If you’re a fan of any of these musicians or any of the bands they’ve been involved with, there’s something here for to enjoy. The album isn’t a home run but it’s a good effort and a lot better than last year solo Ripper effort Play My Game. I’m not sure whether this is a one-off deal or what, but I’d be interested in hearing more original material from this band.

Yes, the cover sucks. It’s way too dingy and dark and you can barely make out that there are supposed to be SHADOWS on the (charred?) walls.

This edition features a ‘making of’ DVD that I haven’t bothered to watch yet.

Highlights: “Ghost Town”, “From The Abyss”, “Blood On Wood”, “In A World So Cruel”, “Voices Within The Walls”

http://www.myspace.com/charredwallsofthedamned

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