Style: heavy metal
Label: Frontiers
Year: 2021
Home: Brazil
Members: Raphael Mendes ~ vocals
Mateaus Cantaleano, Sol Perez ~ guitars
Caio Vidal ~ bass
CJ Dubiella ~ drums
When this album was passed to me by songwriter Kevin Brady, who has written for the Backhill Project which I've reviewed here, I only saw in his notes this was the debut album of a Brazilian singer who has become a youtube sensation. I'll confess being a youtuber myself that didn't mean so much, let alone I hadn't heard of him. Having listened to the album all morning & googled him, I feel so late to the game. Or, I should say, I feel like I've just discovered the Beatles & am sad to find everyone already knows them. Just the same, Mendes' group Icon Of Sin absolutely deserves a mention in this blog, even if likely everyone coming here is laughing at me being so behind the news. The guitars start right in immediately & figured I was going to be hearing a throwback to the '80's. Its great hearing a new generation make that music, but its often not so original. I had low expectations. Then Mendes started singing & the world stopped revolving. I mean that figuratively, but I actually did stop what I was doing. Fast forward hours later & come to find out Mendes has made a name for himself sounding identical to Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. He does on youtube some Maiden songs, so he might be called an imitator, yet he also does others' songs using the Dickinson voice. While this album is his own original music, so he's taken the imitation to a new level. If you haven't heard him, its uncanny just how much like Dickinson he sounds like. To make the imitation perfect Icon Of Sin creates music that feels very much like Maiden, though without some of the proggy excesses. He also has written songs with a historical bent. Its almost scary how Maiden-like this album sounds. Usually I'm a bit leery of someone who sounds so much like another singer, particularly one as distinctive as Dickinson. Yet, this is such a good imitation, & Mendes has obviously been a keen student of Maiden on all levels of their sound, that I'm enthralled by the album from start to finish. Actually, I'm not that big of a Maiden fan due to some their excesses, but this is just to my liking & had me hooked & rocking out still on the third & fourth listens. The songs are really well crafted on the whole, though became their most Maiden-like when singing about war. Also, he has the chops to pull it off as a writer & a singer. If nothing else, check out his vibrato for the held notes. Good vibrato is something not every singer has & something that can't be easily imitated. "Unholy Battleground" is a particular favorite of mine for the melody & layered vocals. "The Last Samurai", "Pandemic Euphoria" & the title track were other addictive pleasures. Actually, there wasn't any track I would say was bad, though I was disappointed by "Night Breed". Great chorus, but for some reason I always had trouble understanding what he was saying in the verses as felt like he was singing so high & so much in the same pitch the words blurred together. Its too bad as the chorus is a house shaker. I absolutely recommend this album to both Iron Maiden & non-Maiden fans alike.
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