STYGIAN – Fury Rising

Fury Rising is the second full-length album from these hard rockers from Philadelphia. Playing off a sound that can only be described as a mix of James Hetfield-inspired vocals with Disturbed-like guitar breakdowns, Fury Rising’s 10 tracks play it safe for the most part. The album is well produced and the music is well played, but it lacks heart. Sometimes when an album is over-produced, it loses that rawness that draws the listener in.

As mentioned, Frank Leary’s vocals attempt to mimic Metallica’s James Hetfield, especially noticeable in the slowed down acoustic song “My Regret.” Stygian seems to pull inspiration from all over the rock spectrum. “Last Redemption” and “The Fear” come across with an Alice in Chains sound. One of the bright spots with this album is Patrick Hayden’s guitar work, as he’s featured throughout the album on several solos. The guy can seriously shred! While there’s nothing terrible with Fury Rising, there’s nothing really special here, minus Hayden’s solos. It feels like nothing is original or unique to Stygian’s sound. As I said, musically and lyrically they play it safe. Nothing I can’t find on any ClearChannel radio station.

(Mortal Music Group, PO Box 661, Lake Zurich, IL 60047)