17th Street

Totally asskicking heavy metal from San Francisco, equal parts NWOBHM, dark doom-rock and aggressive thrash with the technical virtuosity of prog. Neoclassical harmonies and guitar wizardry abound, as if Iron Maiden had gotten degrees at Julliard. There’s some baroque organ and operatic vocals to take the originality up a notch—makes me think of Candlemass, Slough Feg or Helloween if they were pissed off. A bit inconsistent, but the good parts are great.
No FCCs detected. My picks: 4, 6, 8, 9

1. (3:39) A steady chugging overture, mostly instrumental
2. (4:41) Andy Laroque harmonies, thrashy math-rock insanity, impassioned baritone male vocals trade off with siren-like female vox
3. (7:14) Good riffs but overall the chorus somehow sounds waaaay too poppy; I would skip this unless you are really craving power metal.
4. (3:48) Lumbering, marching pace and riffs that herald your impending execution
5. (4:30) Really weirdly upbeat rocker with keyboard hooks and major-key power-metal sensibilities. Fans of catchy rock n’ roll should check this out.
6. (5:19) BEST TRACK. Fake power ballad intro, then the song takes an abrupt turn into a relentless pummeling rager, catchy and fist-pumping with some great old-school thrash riffs and soaring vox.
7. (6:37) Oh, so I guess this one actually is the ballad… why the hell do bands still do these? fucking SNOOOORE
8. (3:58) Shortest track keeps everything compact and interesting, fantastic riffs
9. (10:06) Longest track; this is the “epic” so there’s lots of parts to it, starts ballad-y but quickly becomes a heavy bluesy dirge followed by some Maiden-on-steroids raging.
--Diego A.