Navajasso
Published in 2015, Chapter One is the first album of Level 10's project, lead by singer Russel Allen and bassist and also singer Mat Sinner.
The album begins with a speedy and powerful guitar riff in 'Cry no more', a 4 minute-length song. With a traditional song structure the chorus is, I think, pure Russell-style and very easy to keep in the ear. Of course, there is in the middle part a kickass guitar solo, even though, I find the end of the song a little weak. This standard song formula is used in almost all the songs of the album, but there are two songs that captured my attention and that I describe shortly below.
The first really interesting song for me is the fifth one, 'Blasphemy'. In this more obscure, dramatic and symphonic song, we can hear the rude side of Allen's voice with an instrumental background style that is close to Symphonic X's album 'Paradise Lost'. The high notes in the chorus are the brilliant part of the song.
'Demonized' is a song signed with Primal Fear's style that starts with a speedy guitar riff. The more exciting part of the song begins with the two fast guitar solos, followed by a classic two-guitar harmonized part and two breaks for ad-libitum guitar playing.
I have to say that this album is good, but compared to Allen-Lande project, which I prefer, this is an average work. In addition to this, and due to the few parts in which Mat Sinner sings, the final result of 'Chapter One' appears to be more like a project of Russell Allen with another band, and not a collaboration of two singers as the album title suggests. For me, more individual presence of the second voice and the instrumentalists would had been welcome.