Atomic Playground ~ Baal Perazim (album review) ... Music in for the kill!

Style: heavy metal
Label: A-Bomb Records
Year: 2010
Home: Florida

Members: Buddy Zappa ~ vocals
Jerre Hill ~ guitars
Sly ~ bass
Jerome Jowais ~ drums

When asked not long ago about his singing style over the decades Jeff Scott Soto of Trans-Siberian Orchestra/ex-Journey said that he could no longer sing in the style he did when he was a member of Yngmie Malmsteen's Rising Force as that voice sounds contrived, overly emotive & foolish in retrospect. Sadly, AP should pay attention to his words as they are in the same mold as Malmsteen's early albums musically ... & vocally ... & imitating JSS at this early point in his career is not a positive. It's one thing when the vocalist has some unique tone, such as the screams of Rob Halford of Judas Priest or the whine of Ozzy, but AP frontman Buddy Zappa comes off more as an imitator than a singer in his own right. He's trying to sound like every heavy metal singer, with all the nuances, over ten tracks without ever finding comfort with his own voice, which is shocking considering he's been singing for awhile. He's aiming for the show but forgetting what makes so many voices so great is the passion underneath the show. It's the weakest part of AP's debut album & at times distracting from the anti-nuclear war message that laces through the lyrics. When things get vocally toned down, as sometimes happens such as on "In For The Kill" & "Crossed The Line", its a major improvement though one then notices that the mix/production could be better. Though, AP confesses on their website the near demo quality of the album & for a debut one must often forgive a lot as a band often lacks better resources &/or money to seek out such. As for the rest of the quartet the guitars at times sound a bit weak, partly due to the production, but also due to the use of rhythms with solos overdubbed instead of rhythms that include more nuances & become solos in themselves. But, as AP opened for Accept & Sabaton in 2011 my weak opinion of their album is a small one in a big sea, I'll confess to that. This also might very well might be a case where the live band is better than the studio one & it's my loss that I don't live in Florida as that seems to be a hotbed of music.