STYGIAN -

STYGIAN - FURY RISING - MORTAL  
The band is called Stygian. No, it is not a US Mid-Western power metal band - sorry Leviathan Records!
Stygian is very much like a Metallica cover band, albeit a good one. The singer does a reasonable job straddling the line between his own phrasing and James Hetfield’s tone. The band is tight and practiced. The sound is good too and relatively dense.
Standout songs include My Regret, which many might know as Northing Else Matters. It has a decent guitar solo though. Last Redemption begins like a rock-a-billy song and is an odd duck, but settles into something above average actually. In fact, the song contains another good lead and also has an effective, if repetitious, rhythm. Unstrung Hero is tougher and bottom-heavy, but the band doesn’t escape the clutches of Metallica nor does it want to; in fact, the biography is unapologetic and honest in this regard. The band should be commended for it too; less so for the inclusion of a couple of ballads. So many bands clone others, yet lie and deny all the way. The songs seem to have some lyrical content, as opposed to random words strung together or worthless abstract-isms, but at the end of the day this reviewer is not a Metallica fan, much less '90s Metallica.
The band’s website is at www.stygianrock.com or for more information contact stygianarmy@yahoo.com. - Ali “The Metallian”