Published on Feb 29, 2000
Hades is a band that confounds and confuses me.
On one hand, this New Jersey-based band takes the concept of
metal and tries to put a new spin on the genre. At times on their
fifth album
The Downside, this works and it works well. On the other
hand, they fail to keep things interesting throughout the album,
leaving this disc in the end to fall a bit flat.
That’s a shame, in many ways. For one thing, when you have
guests like S.O.D.’s Billy Milano (vocals on “Ground Zero
(reprise)”) and D.D. Verni (one of the numerous bassists, he plays
on “Bitter Suite #1”), you expect the bar of excellence to be
raised. To Milano’s credit, he injects some life into the album –
pity it’s right at the end.
Hades – vocalist Alan Tecchio, guitarist/vocalist/bassist Dan
Loranzo, guitarist/bassist Ed Fuhrman and drummer/vocalist Dave
Lescinsky – do intrigue me in that they could have easily gone with
the pissed-off, balls-to-the-wall type of performance with song
titles like “Hoax,” “Shove It” and “Hail To The Thief”. Instead,
the band chooses to take a more controlled route with their
performances, emphasizing the song and melodies and not necessarily
the message.
An interesting concept, no? Thing is, it works well in the first
part of
The Downside. Tracks like “Align The Planets” captivate the
listener with their powerful musical statements, all the while the
messages (some even back-handed commentaries) of themes of doom and
gloom make the listener think. Listening to to “Align The Planets,”
for example, made me think of all the overhype regarding the
millennium bug.
But something happens along the way on
The Darkside – namely, the band hits a comfort level, and
they appear to cruise through the rest of the album. As a result,
tracks like “It’s A Wonderful Lie” and “The Me That Might Have
Been,” tracks that should have stood out on their own, get lost in
a sea of distorted guitars. While the material is similar to the
tracks that grab the listener’s attention at the start of the
album, the challenge level of the material falls flat.
The Downside is not a disappointment because of what it
contains; rather, it’s a disappointment because of what could have
been. It’s still worth checking out, and I have no doubt that Hades
is primed to be a major player once metal makes its comeback. But
they’re not there yet.