Warrion - Awakening the Hydra
I went into my initial listen almost completely ignorant about this band other than a vague notion of them being Heavy/Power Metal, and having song titles such as “Adversary,” “Victim of Religion,” and “Lucifer My Guide.” The wailing, piercing singing kind of put me off that first play-through, until the second-to-last track, the instrumental all acoustic guitar showstopper “Earth Fire Water Spirit” demanded my complete attention. A 51-second reprise of the title track follows it, to close the album, and without even realizing it, I found myself singing along. After another few spins of this somewhat short (34 minutes) masterpiece, with the vox sounding better and better to me each time, I finally thought to find out who the hell these guys are. It turns out that the singer is none other than Obsession’s Michael Vescera! He has been in too many other bands to go over his complete history, but let me at least mention his years with Loudness and Yngwie Malmsteen, and that he’s also the singer for Animetal USA, which is the American version of a Japanese band I really like (I should say liked, as they have broken up some years ago). No idea why I didn’t immediately recognize him, even if he does get a little vocal assistance on a couple tracks. Living in northern Indiana is toxic to brain cells, though, so I’m going to blame the mind-devouring Elkhart air. I don’t know anything about the mastermind and namesake of the group, guitarist Ron Ravi Warrion, but the remainder of the band’s lineup (Keith Knight, Rob Brug, Tim Thomas) may be familiar to some. The only thing that anyone really needs to know is that unlike many other “supergroups,” Warrion writes songs first, and although they could clearly do it all day long, shows off second. The musicianship here is often stunning, but never narcissistic. Everything serves the song, as it should, rather than the songs being structures built around elaborate solos. The recording and production are as impressive as the songwriting, with a thicker, beefier, guitar tone than many similar bands would even know to want. Awakening the Hydra is an absolutely astonishing album that rewards repeated listens, but will have you, as it did me, singing along after less than one.
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