STEEL PROPHET - Unseen
September 26, 2002, 22 years ago
(Nuclear Blast)
Jarred by the junky intro of first track 'Truth', I quickly found the Steel Prophet I've long respected getting down to the business of offering shade, hue, idea and versatility throughout a run of old school traditional metallers that more than not, contain the dramatic melodies of progressive metal but none of the tiring tricks. Much of this is down to vocalist Rick Mythiasin, who has, since recording, left the band, Mythiasin sticking to his calm, measured persona, rarely reaching into his legendary Tate-twanged high register. The album progresses well, arcing back often to this regal, timeless area (especially with intros), sounding like steel on steel, bright - almost too bright - with a lack of bottom end on the record coming close to distraction. The riffs are for the most part, stellar and uncliched, but it's actually the coterie of mellow parts and arrangements that impresses the most, the band sounding like Zeppelin, Styx, Heep, suicidal Trouble and 2112-era Rush on these well-placed respites. Overall, there's a defiant, vacuum-packed Jag Panzer vibe to this band, right down to the old logo and Kristian Wahlin-like illustration of the front cover, and from this comes a band that continues to sidestep the pitfalls of power metal, indeed, the Americans as a block, doing a better job of looking halfways smart versus the European originators.
