#mayburn

Cranked Up Live – 2-24-17 Show

On the show this week: stories from vacations in Mexico, politics lead people into an alternate universe, and the drug smuggling beauty queen. Curtis is away, but Brad’s here in all his politically incorrect glory. Psycho Picks from Mayburn, Bedlem, and The Black River Rebels. An all new Cranked Up Five and tons more. Let’s kick the tires and light the fires. It’s time for Cranked Up Live!

„When worlds collide“ is the debut album of the relatively new austrian formation Mayburn, coming from the capital city Vienna. The band, as such, can be put in the genre of Powerrock, however, it benefits from the earlier musical expieriences of the band members, coming from many different genres. The album shows influences of many musical styles, ranging from calmer, acoustic passages over parts showing the face of a modern form of Heavy Metal, maybe even Extreme Metal, to slight Nu-Metal influences here and there. This combination of somewhat different musical elements give the best preconditions for an unique expierience for the listener.

The album starts off relatively calm. The sound of playing children, interrupted by a thunderstruck and a calm guitar tune, but the calamity is not meant to last long. Power chords interrupt the silence and initiate the heavier side of Mayburn with the song „Hope is Gone“. Fast riffs are accompanied by impulsive drums and do not fail to remember of the earlier days of Avenged Sevenfold. The mixture is accompanied by the unusual voice of Peter Janda, that enriches the mixture with a darker tone. But that is not all the band has to offer. As the album continues, Mayburn shows that they are not bound to one specific playstyle. Changes of tune, ranging from Ballads over Hard Rock hymns like „Addicted to Rock“ to „Unleash“, which makes use of spoken vocals are not unusual. A thing that astoundingly stands of is the quality of the guitar solos provided for the songs. These are, in my opinion, one of the greatest highlights of the album. A thing that also must be adressed is that the band from time to time makes use of the same power chords often in a row, which is a problem, since, while working as a bridge, it creates some monotonies in a couple of songs. Also, in combination with the following of very high quality solos, the adressed passages simply falls flat to them. This, however, should be an aspect that can easily improved in future records, since this only happens passagewise and through most oft he songs the harmony between lead and rhythm guitars works out well.

Another thing that makes Mayburn well recognizable is the vocal performance delivered in the different songs of the album. Peter Janda features a relatively deep, but still clear voice that personally remembers me of the former Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones. Janda manages to bring much energy and passion into the songs. Especially the song „Unleash“ stands out in this point, since the vocal style changes between clear singing and spoken passages, that even contain a short double-time passage. A thing that also enriches the vocal performance ist he slight use of screamed background vocals in „Facing Demons“. Sadly, this is the only song that contains screamed vocals, since the combination of deep, clear vocals and high-pitched screaming work well in combination with the harder passages of the album. A problem that can be seen, however, is that vocals and instrumental music somehow seem to be working not as one unit, but as two departed song units. This is a problem that is hard to explain and probably has less to do with the music itself but with the acoustic implementation of the vocals. But again, this is a problem that probably ca be fixed with time. Concerning the albums lyrics the band incorporates many different themes, ranging from confessions tot he harder side of music to ballads and songs like „Facing Demons“ that sometimes even seem to show feelings of hate and anger. All in all, the lyrics are fitting for the songs, however they move into background compared to the vocal perfomance.

Summarizing Mayburn delivers a worthy debut album that shows the musical experience of the band members. „When worlds collide“ incorporates many different musical styles and has to offer some oustanding qualities like astonishing guitar solos and  an exceptional vocal performance that hide some minor weaknesses like a some repetitions here and there. My final rating is a