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What are the odds I'd review two bands named Reverence within the same week? This is not the Black Metal band, but a new straight-up Heavy Metal band comprised of some sort-of well-known players, including Doc Wacholz of Savatage, Bryan Holland of Tokyo Blade, and Ned Maloni and singer Todd Hall from Burning Starr.

With a cast list of veterans, you'd expect an album of solid, well-constructed US-Metal, and that's exactly what you get. The guitar sound is nice and crunchy, and the riffs are the expected rhythm hammers with a dash of hard rock posturing thrown in. The leads are quite good, and the performances are all first-rate. Singer Hall has a lot of energy, but his voice is pretty unremarkable otherwise - he's exactly the kind of singer you'd expect and no more.

The songwriting is competent, but never really takes off and burns. While you get some decent barnburners like "Phantom Road" or "Gatekeeper", there's not a whole lot on this album you'll remember when it's over. The vocal lines are pretty derivative of older works in the genre, and they aren't very catchy. There's a lot of shout-along choruses that will go down a storm live, but as a pure listening experience, they leave you wanting something more substantial. This band has a lot of promise, but this debut is not as cool as they wish it was.