Search - Clay People :: Waking the Dead

Not the masterpiece I was expecting after 9 years, but...

EerieVonEvil | The Rabbit Hole | 05/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Waking The Dead does have its high points. I pre-ordered the album from the band and have had the time to digest it fully. This marks the first album that Daniel Neet and Co. has made since 1998's self-titled album(Which was a great record). So after a 9-year wait, was it worth it? Well, yes. At least half of it anyway. Surprisingly, what makes this album weakest is the vocal delivery. Daniel Neet has always had the most unique vocals...very low and haunting. He experiments with his vocal range on Waking The Dead with mixed results. When he sings low, he sounds great. But, there are many songs on here where his vocals are VERY off-key and he ends up wailing in a very wierd way, like he does in Burning Tao. Another hard one to digest is "Swerve" which is a great song ruined by funny sounding "Na na nas". "When Heavens Fall" has melodic, yet heavy cascading guitars. Unfortunately Daniel Neet's vocals dont fit the feel of the music in this song. Other than that, its a fine album. The musicianship is tight, the production clean, and Dan Dinsmore jazz-style drumming is on key as ever. This is a fantastic hard rock album that balances heaviness and melody quite well when the melodies are on-key and appropriate. The high points of the album are Supersonic Overdrive, which is a great straight-up rock song with tough-as-nails vocals, Waking The Dead is another great highlight with a hard-rock approach and an eerie chorus that explodes at the end with grating screams/yells. There is still the tribal Killing Joke-esque feel to their music with certain songs. Other highlights include Monsters(great original melody in chorus here), Never Give Up(another awesome chorus), Emptiness, Failure, etc. The only real skippers are Swerve, When Heavens Fall, Anchient One Interlude, and Burning Tao. So, if you are a fan and like the 1998 album or even the more stripped-down brutal records like Iron Icon and Stone(10)Stitches, then I will recommend this to you. Just be prepared to be thrown off by some really odd singing at times. I fully support this band and its good to have them back. I hope this album at least gives them enough exposure to make another record sooner than 2016! The Hard Rock album of 2007.



Enjoy"

Great Album

C. Bossardet | Tempe, AZ | 06/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have to disagree to a point with the last reviewer. Swerve and Burning TAO are two of my favorite songs on the album. There are some awkward moments in regard to vocals on the album, but all in all, it's a solid effort. The two I found myself skipping most are Monster and Emptiness. They're still good songs, but I like the rest of the album better.



Anyways, if you're even remotely a Clay People fan, buy this album. You won't regret it. I've been a fan for years now and have all their releases besides one that was only released in Germany."