Early Man - Closing In
Matador Records
Heavy Metal
11 songs (42:05)
Release year: 2005
Early Man, Matador Records
Reviewed by Khelek

I recently found out about this band as I was browsing lists of upcoming metal releases. I heard that they were very influenced by older heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, so I immediately decided to check out their 2005 debut Closing In in anticipation of their sophomore album. What I found was a pretty standard attempt to recreate some of the energy of the old-school doom and heavy metal bands of the 70s and 80s, which is a noble enough goal. Unfortunately the band just did not write many really solid songs that really catch my attention, but there are definitely a few great ones here that show the band has a lot of talent and potential.

Four Walls begins the album with some standard heavy metal riffing and high pitched vocals that remind me a little of Ozzy and Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother. This is not a real attention grabbing song, which it should be. In fact the first three songs are alright, but they just sound very much alike if you don't listen very closely. Pretty catchy, but not very memorable. I really like the heaviness of Death Is The Answer, but it can get a bit dull with repetitious guitar riffs and drums. It is certainly one of the more memorable songs from the album, and I can see why it was chosen as a single. Thrill Of The Kill is a bit different; more memorable because of catchier, groovy riffs and melodic vocals. This is a well thought out song that you can just sit back and relax to. I love the doomy old-school heavy metal influences. Brain Sick starts with some nice guitar work, catches my attention right away and holds it with big, catchy riffs. I sense a bit of an Iron Maiden influence here. I feel the vocals could be a bit more interesting, but overall it's a solid track. Throughout this album I can tell these guys are good at putting songs together, and they're certainly proficient with their respective instruments. Really they just need to take it that extra step and write some really great songs that stand out from the rest of the bands in this genre, maybe add some more technically interesting guitar and bass work. This is the kind of band that I want to hear played on the radio today.

This isn’t a bad album, it's just a very standard, Sabbath-esque metal album that simply does not have enough great songs to stand out from the pack. Newer bands in this style like Fireball Ministry or Year Long Disaster do this sound far better in my opinion. I found myself actually having to really pay attention to the music because it just doesn’t come out and grab me at all. Besides a few great songs, the band just does not bring much to the table. I realize this is the debut of a young band, but I really think they can do a lot better. Hopefully they will step it up in their next release.

Killing Songs :
Death Is The Answer, Thrill Of The Kill, Evil Is, Brain Sick
Khelek quoted 69 / 100
Other albums by Early Man that we have reviewed:
Early Man - Death Potion reviewed by Khelek and quoted 74 / 100
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There are 3 replies to this review. Last one on Mon Jul 12, 2010 11:25 pm
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