• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Out of the Ashes, Into the Fire...and Other Tales of Insanity from Pennsylvania's Power Theory is a slab of dirty, Rock ‘N' Metal in the vein of bands like Unrest, Gun Barrel and even U.D.O. Guitars with loads of bite contend for space with gritty yet clean vocals. There's no deviation from straight-ahead metal songwriting and no keyboards, either.

The strength of Out of the Ashes... lies in the first four tracks, "Prevaricator" through "Nightmare Crawling." These are quality songs that should get your head banging. There's a pretty big dip over the next three songs. The catchy but overly saccharine ballad "When the Rain Comes Down" is a song out of time and out of place on the album while "Insane (Metal's Part of My Brain)" is just plain unimaginative. The songwriting picks up a bit toward the end but nothing that lives up to the big riffs and sing-a-long qualities of the opening quartet.

Out of the Ashes... may be uneven but there are some flashes of promise to be sure. Simple, straightforward Heavy Metal can be tough to find so here's hoping Power Theory sharpen their writing skills for their next album.