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Ripe

The Eloquence Of Silence

Written by: PP on 20/01/2013 23:25:54

Ripe is a power/heavy metal band from Copenhagen, Denmark, who released their sophomore album "The Eloquence Of Silence" during the fall last year. It's been lying on my review pile for a while now for the simple reason that before even taking a single listen to the record, I knew exactly what it was going to sound like. Because like all other non-primetime heavy/power metal bands, they are generic and opposed to innovation, and as such are completely interchangeable with any of the literally thousands of bands primarily from the Germany/Austria/Switzerland area. Quite simply put, "The Eloquence Of Silence" is a record any power/heavy fan will have heard a hundred times before in 2012 alone, from a variety of bands with different names but in practice with an identical sound.

That's why reviewing such bands becomes a chore, because what more is there to say about them? Their vocalist has remarkable pipes, and goes for the vibrato-style majestic delivery on every song. On occasion, he even gets a catchy melody or two going (see: "A Riddle In The Dark"). The guitars are just as typically heavy metal as the vocals, both in terms of riffs and also the solo department. It's on the melodic side of the genre, but running this search alone will deliver dozens of identical-sounding bands. It's simply too unoriginal and stale to be anything but boring, especially given the crazy amounts of saturation experienced by the genre in general. When was the last time you heard a band in this genre who dared to push the envelope? Those tend to also be the bands that are most successful (Dragonforce, Helloween, Gamma Ray, etc). Ripe, unfortunately, is not one of them, and while the die-hard fans of the genre will probably lap this up as a decent release overall, from a critic's point of view, this is dead on average release in an overcrowded genre.

Download: A Riddle In The Dark, Dreamwalker, Porcelain Goddess
For the fans of: Dio, Pretty Maids, generic power/heavy metal
Listen: Facebook

Release date 26.11.2012
Mighty Music / Target