Here we have the debut from Florida's House of Lightning, a band featuring current and former members of Floor, Dove, and Cavity. Ok, so perhaps not entirely household names right there, but House of Lightning certainly have a lot going for them on Lightworker to warrant your attention. This album finds itself on some bizarro world where progressive metal has married hardcore and had a few kids named thrash & hard rock, resulting in a sound that has bits of Mastodon, Rush, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, and Steve Vai. It's hard to ignore the complex riffs & wild lead work on the heavy rocking "Smoke and Mirror", while "Wheels I-II-III" packs plenty of old school metal muscle but still inject in enough of complex prog to keep it quite intriguing. "Ocean" could easily be a long lost leftover from Mastodon's Leviathan sessions, but truth be told, you can easily hear the influence of that band throughout Lightworker. Really solid guitar work from start to finish, and the drums are quite acrobatic as well, providing each tune with enough stomp but also bits of technicality. I'm finding the lead vocals a tad monotonous in spots, and there's an overall sense of similarity from track to track that kind of gives the album a sort of 'one note' flavor, but that's not to deny the impressive musicianship that's on display here. A good debut, and no doubt a band to keep a close eye on.
Track Listing
01 Quickness
02 Downbeat Situation
03 More Lights More Trails
04 Smoke and Mirror
05 New Jam
06 Vote Yes (To Say You Don't Want I )
07 Need No Help
08 Wheels I-II-III
09 CHKN
10 Ocean
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