I Decline - Time To Shine

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\r\nWell,well what have we got here? A\r\nChicago oriented band!(Remember Trouble?)I Decline assault the music\r\nscene with their third album and let’s see what these guys have to\r\noffer....\r\n

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\r\nFirst of all,let’s talk about the\r\nmusic. What we deal with here is a solid mixture of vintage hard rock\r\na-la Thin Lizzy,Kiss and Black Sabbath (of course!), doom metal,\r\nstoner rock and some punk touches. All this given through the prism\r\nof modern metal. The whole album is ultra groovy and it is great and\r\nsurprising that we cannot really label this kind of heavy music. The\r\nriffs are extra catchy(check out “Your Name In Blood” and you\r\nwill see...) and the fact that we have multiple vocal lines is\r\nawesome. The players are skilled and their ideas are intelligent.\r\nThey are also great live! You can check out a live video for their\r\n“The Administration” track via their web site.\r\n

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\r\nThe lyrics are cathartic and they\r\nmostly deal with the aftermath of 9/11 (“Time to Shine” is a\r\nmetaphor to this tragic event)\r\n

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\r\nNow, the sound: It is really massive! A\r\ntwin guitar assault, crystal clear vocals, a bass in the right\r\nposition in the mix to make you move! Mixed by Tadpole of\r\nGroovemaster Studio (Disturbed, Mushroomhead, Dope)\r\nthere was no doubt that the sound would be heavy and loud.\r\n

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\r\nAll in all, a great release (I think it\r\nis their best) that finds I Decline stepping with one foot on the\r\nmainstream and the other on the shining bands of the stoner/metal\r\nunderground. Don’t hurry to categorise them as another stoner band or\r\na metal band. Give a chance to this album and you will not be\r\ndisappointed. \r\n

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\r\nThe album comes with the sweet artwork\r\nof Tom Denney (Cannibal Corpse, Soilent Green, Kylesa)\r\nvia Horns Raised Records.\r\n

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\r\nDimitris "Spoonman" Karantzinis \r\n

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