HARMONIZE are a Power Thrash Metal Band from Nicosia, Cyprus. You don’t hear much about any band from the Republic of Cyprus, an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean. This band was formed back in 2012 and this is their first album. Sozos Michael, the lead singer used to be one of the vocalists of HELION PRIME, a band I previously reviewed for Metal Temple a few years back.
I have to say that the beginning of the title track really reminded me of ‘’Intro to Reality’’ by ANTHRAX on the ‘’Persistence of Time’’ album, that was my first thought. It’s not a bad thing at all, the slow pace and the intro of the song just caught my attention and rightfully so! It’s a sign of things to come and the song progress to a much more heavier pace afterwards. You know you are in for a absolute treat when the songs slow like that! It has some slow Doom Metal elements thrown in there as well for added measure. It does take about 2 minutes and a half before the vocals come in and you can hear the quality of the vocalist right at the beginning. The vocalist is very good, good range and presence, at first he reminded me of Mark Osegueda from DEATH ANGEL.
I love the fact that you actually have an Intro and an Outro, it feels like you completed something. The listener is sent to hear a story, it has a beginning and it has an end. Not many bands nowadays use this method of putting their songs together and I personally feel it was a nice touch. The album feels more complete like that, it feels more like a whole than bits and pieces thrown in together to make an album. The songs are in a specific order and the progression is there obviously.
The songs seem to talk about a hero, a vigilante of sorts, the titular Warrior in the Night. Someone that tries to protect the city for the ruthless evil, he will not back down from any fight and does have the city to heart. There is a superhero in all of us and the lyrical content seems to talk a lot about fighting evil without being caught, fighting the good fight but in the darkness. You don’t want to be known for the glitz and glamour of being the hero, you want to help others but your way, in the darkness where no one knows your name or your face. I thought the album had a very positive vibe about it and the lyrics were very structurally balanced with the rest of the tone of the music.
I talked about DEATH ANGEL beforehand and this band just reminded me of them but with a mix of Old School Traditional Heavy Metal, it has that 80’s vibe but with a very capable frontman. It’s a nice mix of styles that make for a very thorough and high enjoyable release. The band has a lot of promise and delivers a great debut opus. The added acoustic version of ‘’Angel’’ as a bonus track was a nice treat, showing another side of the band which is always a nice surprise. The band has enormous potential and it’s a solid underrated release without a doubt.
Songwriting: 8
Musicianship: 8
Memorability: 8
Production: 8
by Jean-François Poulin
