Engraved in Stone

Talk about reaching the boundaries of obscurity. Commandment plays a very interesting blend of US power metal that seems to bring in a lot of influences from early Vicious Rumors, Helstar, Liege Lord, Fates Warning, Crimson Glory and so forth. That's one of the highlights here as a lot of the songs tend to sound pretty original while staying consistent with their overall style, its fresh and creative. Sadly it seems they bit the dust back in the 80's and were never able to get their full length release out. Thankfully this wasn't the bands ultimate doom and label O.P.M. Records oddly pushed this out for a limited release in 1999. But who's going to know about them now?

By far the biggest highlight here is vocalist David Nava. I never thought I'd live to see the day and hear a vocalist that somehow manages to sound like both Agent Steel's John Cyriis and Midnight of Crimson Glory. His voice manages to sound very identical to Cryiis's more clearer singing via Unstoppable Force, but the screams and falsetto use are extremely vibrant and unique very much like Midnight's. Often, Nava's vocals completely steal the show and it would be hard to imagine anyone else deliver the performance he does here. His vocals easily control the emotions of just about every song.

Everything else is pretty above par as well. The production is fairly consistent and whether or not its the late releasing patching things up, the balance and instruments are all top notch. The bass actually stands out pretty often and the drums follows these odd songs very well. Single guitarist John Remesnik does a very impressive job whipping up some unique rhythm's, interesting hooks, and knows how to shred a nice path of his own. At times its hard to believe he's alone here.

Some of the songs seem to fit well but there's definitely a few that stand out more than others. Oriental Maiden, besides containing one of the weirdest intro solo's I've yet to come across, sets you up perfectly for what to expect. Its a faster track and Nava's dynamic approach to vocals should immediately impress listeners. Tracks Virgin White and Crystal Ball are when Nava starts to really sound like Cyriis at times and he puts in a much more aggressive performance. There's a little slump with the next two tracks, Eyes of Fire and the nearly-a-ballad Never Be Afraid. Here its very apparent that Commandment were just better at playing faster and melodic tracks, these two mid-paced numbers feel too held back and you'll just keep thinking "are they going somewhere?" when they ultimately don't. From here on the only other slightly uninteresting track is Claw of Death, which manages to almost sound like a slowed down Agent Steel song. While the vocals are again more than impressive the rest of the music is just too held back. Sand of Time is by far the most dynamic track on here and sounds like something a heavier Crimson Glory would have written (think Angels of War or possibly Eternal World). Its fairly epic with its atmospheric intro and a perfect example that when the music works well with Nava's vocals, the outcome is outstanding. The self titled album track Engraved In Stone turns out to be none other than an instrumental. Luckily it can stand on its own two feet and doesn't feel too out of place, it just seems a bit weird they placed it at the end.

Overall its hard to say if this is a classic or not. Upon my first listen this album completely blew me away but, given a little more time some of its quality slipped away. There's just a few instances here where the band seems somewhat held back and with a little more crunch some of the tracks could have been much better. David Nava however gives off an incredibly mesmerizing performance and for vocalist buffs out there, this is worth looking into for him alone. A comparison to both John Cyriis and Midnight is not something that can easily be made! For the darker 80's power metal fans out there definitely check this out, I just feel it could have been a little more that would have gained it classic status.