When a band cites its influences as 'classic' hard rock and metal and lists bands like Sabbath, Deep Purple, Slayer and Metallica, you can more or less predict what they're going to sound like without needing to hear them. Yeah, so they might sling in other hard-riffing reference points, like Mercyful Fate, Iron Maiden and High on Fire, but ultimately, you know they're going to sound like Metallica - post Black Album Metallica, at that. In fairness, Rising make a pretty decent stab at it, and with everything louder than everything else, they bash out a solid, wall of metal noise that's got a power that's hard to deny. 'Sea of Basalt' fair pounds, and the guitars do chug and drive, packing more meat than an abattoir.
Jacob Krogholt's vocals are perhaps the weakest element: for the most part, his emulation of James Hetfield, with occasional switches to a growlier, throatier style, is more than passable, but when he belts out the big, big choruses in 'clean' mode, it somehow seems to diminish the overall power of the song. The real problem, though, is that the delivery is all so predictable. Then there's the fact that the riffs, while weighty, are very much archetypal, and you can picture the legs akimbo rock stances the band adopt while they rock out.
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Rising are at their best when they slow it down and go for a more layered sound, as on the brooding six-minuter 'Cohorts Rise' (although the cynic in me says it's just their attempt at writing their own 'Nothing Else Matters'). So while also chucking in citations of Celtic Frost, Mastodon and Judas Priest, really, what it's all about is Metallica. Yes, the bottom line is that Rising want to be Metallica... as do countless other bands.
I've definitely heard worse – much worse – but I've also heard it all before.
Rising Online
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