Downspirit - Point Of Origin
Metalville
Modern Rock/Metal with Power Metal elements
11 songs (47:01)
Release year: 2010
Official MySpace, Metalville
Reviewed by Khelek

When I hear the name Downspirit, what immediately comes to mind is sludgy doom or something at least inspired by that vein of music, and with the talents of Symphorce guitarist Cédric "Cede" Dupont at the forefront I felt that this band had a chance of creating something really interesting. Unfortunately what these guys create almost exclusively on this record is a poppy version of "metal" that, while showing some traditional heavy and power metal influences, has more in common with the likes of Three Days Grace and Hinder than anything else.

When I hear the intro it sounds a bit suspenseful and interesting and gets me excited for this album. However, the first song is a pretty typical modern rock track, and it goes downhill from there with Love Song. This track begins with a harmonica to add some southern rock vibes, but after the heavy guitars come in it loses all traces of that sound. The verse is quite catchy, albeit completely unoriginal, but the chorus is where it really gets cliché. It just gets worse from there with pseudo-rapped vocals from frontman Steffen Lauth towards the middle. Lauth isn't a bad vocalist by any means, and I think he could really have a powerful affect on the music if the songwriting wasn’t so dumbed down. Life's A Bitch shows off some nice guitar work, but the song structure is just as predictable unfortunately. There is definitely a lot of influence from metal here, you can here some power metal riffing in Lost, but once again I've heard far better. Hollow Words is another poppy piece of unoriginality. I really have trouble believing that people still think this sappy modern rock ballad shit is good, but then again turn on your radio and you'll hear it every day, at least if you live in the U.S. Someone must be listening.

It was actually tough for me to listen to this album the whole way through, not necessarily because of poor musicianship, but mostly because of abysmal songwriting. There's not really anything here that I haven't heard many times before, and besides a few over indulgent guitar solos, these guys do not bring anything new and exciting to the table. This is really only marginally better than the latest Shinedown, Trapt, or the myriad of over played and over praised radio rock and metal bands out there today. It's true there are some obvious power metal elements in some songs, but these simply sound like a feeble attempt to make this a less bitter pill to swallow for true metal fans.

Downspirit seems to be a band that believes they’re creating something original, which is surprising given the amount of stuff they're borrowing from bands both new and old. The song structures are usually the typical verse-chorus with melodic riffs and poppy choruses. Lauth has quite a strong voice, sounding at times like power and heavy metal singers of old, but I never feel much emotion from him. Dupont's guitar riffs are equally as uninspired. I honestly see no reason for this album to be written and released except to make a quick buck and get some radio play.

Killing Songs :
Nothing on this album can be described as “killing”
Khelek quoted 35 / 100
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