Engine

(Metal Blade)
by Scott Hefflon

Yet another “supergroup” that falls shy of the potential of the sum of its parts. Ray Alder, vocalist of Fates Warning (and no, we’re assured, he’s not leaving the band), had the desire to write darker, heavier tunes, so he recruited Bernie Versailles (ex-guitarist of Agent Steele, one of the many Bay Area thrash bands who was never all that good, but we bought their records cuz we didn’t know any better at the time), drummer Pete Parada (of Face to Face – usually punk bands hire metal drummers cuz they kick ass, but he’s an example of the flipside… and these are the results), and bassist Joey Vera (ex- of or currently in Armored Saint, it doesn’t matter much anymore – he’s been stumbling through various ignorable solo records released by Metal Blade since John Bush quit to join Anthrax’s failing career). Problem is, Engine idles too closely to Alder’s prog rock background for my taste, and when they get “dark and heavy,” they sound like heavy-for-heavy’s-sake riffs Filter woulda tossed cuz they didn’t go anywhere. And having Ray growl and do that monotone rappy thing like Korn Chamber is just a waste of a perfectly strong voice.
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