Album Reviews : Anarion – Beneath It All

Melbourne based melodic metallers Anarion are back after a 2 year long hiatus, with their newly released third full length album “Beneath it All”.

During the band’s long hiatus I had the chance to listen to the new material via the band’s Myspace. To my surprise the new material was a lot heavier and seemed to mimic a style closer to Nevermore or Candlemass, giving off a more theatrical and powerful delivery than the band’s previous album “Unbroken”.

The new album boasts a much bigger production value, in turn creating a much bigger wall of sound. This is all thanks to Swedish producer Daniel Bergstrand, whose credits include In Flames, Soilwork and Strapping Young Lad.

Multiple layering and perfect production value have made this one of the many worthy local releases of 2009 as it has easily surpassed my first exceptions.  There are some minor power metal elements from “Unbroken” which have slithered there way onto “Beneath It All”, but don’t expect the same mild and melodic pace. The new album is shrouded in a heavier and more aggressive tone than any of the band’s previous releases.

Not only does the new album satisfy my musical tastes on all fronts, but I hear a more vocally mature Ric Mecchi. He has matured a lot since the previous album as he carries more emotion with each new song. Not to take anything away from Ric’s previous vocal efforts, but listening to “Beneath it All” and comparing it to his previous work you do notice a major difference. A difference which leans towards more powerful and diverse vocal deliveries.

The opening track ‘Fog of War’ bares resembles to Strapping Young Lad‘s “Alien” release. The song starts off slow yet quickly elevates to a rapping of the ears (in a good way) and steps up the delivery of each song as they seem to get heavier and faster with each passing minute. Drummer Luke Burnham (also known as the Kevin Bacon lookalike) shows off his technical prowess with blast beats to end off the opening track and continues his wave of drumming assault throughout the entire album.

Tracks ‘Dispusion’, ‘Persistence of Hate’ and ‘Into The Rage’ offer some straight forward no brainier melodic metal. As you progress further though you’ll come across tracks like ‘Sufferance’ which offers a cool Zakk Wylde esque introduction and continues the band’s formidable barrage of guitar wielding assaults from Ric Mecchi and Scott Griffith.  Guitar solos are in abundance and have a more dominant flow on the new album and range from the simple to the insane. ‘Defying Regime’s’ intro sounds similar to ‘New Eyes, Old Lies’ from “Unbroken”. It’s a simple and quite catchy number.

In all honesty I think this is one of the best releases Anarion have put out and one of the best Aussie releases of 2009. Anarion have really outdone themselves on the new album and that fact becomes quite apparent when you listen to “Beneath It All”. 9/10

For fans of: Nevermore, Candlemass, The Haunted, Persuader, Soilwork

Band: Anarion
Album: Beneath It All
Year: 2009
Genre: Melodic Metal, Power Metal
Label: Independent
Origin: Melbourne, Australia
www.anarion.com.au

Tracklisting:
1. Fog of War
2. Dispusion
3. Persistance of Hate
4. Into The Rage
5. Sufferance <- Reviewer’s choice
6. Demons of Pride
7. Pity The Weak
8. Defying Regime
9. Bleeding Disease
10. Enduring Enemy