SCREAMKING – Thee Indomitable Spirit

Coming up with songs that are catchy and memorable is not something that is reserved for Pop artists fully. It concerns Metal musicians no less; just look at Iron Maiden. Before they became the mightily lords of Metal, they released three amazing high energy albums every fan of Metal loves (and if they don’t then questioning their musical identity might be in order). It’s good to have songs like that especially at the early stage of one’s career, as it can make things a lot easier, when the fame and splendor is still miles away. But it looks like there are bands there that care not and do their thing. One of those bands is called ScreamKing. All the way from Chicago, Illinois. Here’s their third record Thee Indomitable Spirit.

Before proceeding to the actual review it is good to mention that Thee Indomitable Spirit is spiked up with guest appearances and the list includes such legends as Tim “Ripper” Owens (ex-Iced Earth, ex-Judas Priest) or Ronny Munroe (ex-Metal Church), so for those who need big names in order to care – ask no more. The album starts and some facts can be picked up straight away. Like for instance, this album is beautifully tight and solid. Also, the production is absolutely-spot on and that chuggy band… just class. One can also tell that ScreamKing are not a bunch of guys who feel like being stars, but an ensemble of musicians who clearly have no other priorities than being constructive at what they do aka play music. This album contents may seem somewhat bland or boring to anyone who needs the melodies typical for Power Metal or the power and kick Thrash Metal have to offer, but anyone who can take a closer listen to Thee Indomitable Spirit will quickly appreciate its artistry.

The overall sound may remind the listener of such bands as Metallica, Pantera, Judas Priest or even late 90s Megadeth… but it’s not like this a Greta Van Fleet of Judas Priest. Even though those high-pitched and beautifully clean vocals and solos may sound a bit like songs off the legendary Painkiller, the similarities are not in excess. If the first song, being the title track, is not enough to convince the listener why this band is called ScreamKing, then the following track titled “Reign of Hellfire” should do as an evidence. It is also noteworthy that the track features Joe Stump (Alcatrazz) on guitar. The album goes on and more and more interesting tracks come and go. Some of them may sound a bit odd, perhaps even psychedelic, like the 7th track titled “Tecumsas Revenge”. One one hand, it may sound like the intro riff from Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, and on the other, it is nothing but an essence of mysteriousness. Putting it into words is a very challenging task, listening to that track (and the rest of the album) might be a much better idea. The next song brings Painkiller-like vocals again… and no wonder, since it is the one to feature Tim “Ripper” Owens. And then comes the song that may be the best track on this album – “Spirit in White”. Whether it is supposed to be a reference to the beast in black from “Night Crawler” or there is no relation whatsoever, it is a great title. And that kind of walking groove just like in “Walk” by Pantera makes it a very powerful song. This could be the main crowd puller off this album. There are whole fourteen tracks there and one more that really stands out is “Science of your Violence” which happens to be the penultimate one. That kind of mysterious heaviness interspersed with slight confusion could bring such albums as Risk by Megadeth to mind… except it is a whole lot heavier. And that’s just about a half of that album.

To sum things up, Thee Indomitable Spirit is a very good release. It definitely is one of those albums one might want to give a listen a few times in order to fully appreciate. Some albums don’t need to rock the listener straight away. This one does not… and yes it is a really decent record. Hopefully these compositions sound even better live.