On first listen you might think Creatures is an old band, Between their sound and their image they look and sound like a late 70’s/early 80’s hard rock and metal band, Musically falling somewhere between early Judas Priest and Dokken. But in reality they are a relatively new band and one I think deserves a lot more attention than they have gotten at this point.
Their self titled debut album released four years ago and that album is impressive, In the years that have passed since then Creatures original singer Roberto Scienza stepped down and they have continued on with Marc Brito taking over vocal duties. They are both different sounding singers so there’s really no comparison, But both have managed to fit the sound of this band perfectly and Marc has done a fantastic job on this record.
“Inferno” starts the record off with a captivating atmospheric instrumental with fantastic guitar playing and keys, the drums are minimal and yet make their presence felt.
Then it’s time to rock with “Devil In Disguise” the album’s first proper track, I reiterate the combination of early Judas Priest and early Dokken. The band really leans more into the Dokken side on this one, The riffs are vintage early 80’s metal and Marc‘s vocals are absolutely infectious on this track. The build up to and execution of the guitar solo is fantastic, Mateus Cantaleano is one hell of a great guitarist. A great song to kick the album off.
“Night Of The Ritual” feels a little further into the Judas Priest direction to me, This song feels like it could’ve been on the soundtrack of an 80’s horror movie.
“Beware The Creatures” is a mid tempo rocker that recalls a bit of early Dio, Marc‘s vocals soar above the groove of this song and really give it the punch the song needs to elevate it. There’s a fantastic guitar solo in the last third of the song.
“Dreams” has a great riff that kicks off this fantastic song, The verses go melodic and then the distortion kicks in as it heads towards a great chorus, There’s some subtle keyboards in the background that add some beautiful touches to the song. Another fantastic guitar solo on this song, Mateus should really be getting more attention in the scene for how skilled of a player he is. Scorpions meets Dokken is how I’d describe this song, A simply phenomenal track that is one of the albums best.
“Queen Of Death” picks the pace up a bit with another fantastic rocker that brings the adrenaline, Leaning towards the early Judas Priest direction.
“Pure Madness” continues the assault and the drumming from Sidnei Dubiella is fantastic on this song and on the album as a whole, There’s a subtle AC/DC influence woven into the George Lynch inspired riffs on this song.
“Danger” was the first song I heard with their current singer and they really knew how to make an introduction with this song, It’s a power rocker that really commands your attention right out of the gate. Scorpions, Dokken, and Quiet Riot would have a hit had they written this back in the 80’s. In a more rock friendly world this song would be huge, From the first note to the last it’s rock n roll perfection. The best song on the album by a mile.
“Nothing Lasts Forever” starts off with some lovely clean playing and keys before going into early Ozzy territory, This song could’ve been on Bark At The Moon. There’s a haunting and somber quality to this song, Melody is king here and the instruments really make use of every note to convey the emotion of the song. It’s an epic song that by the end will blow you away.
“Path Of The Night” grounds things ever so slightly, But still brings the rock. There’s a great guitar solo section of this song that goes for longer than the solos in the other songs and it’s a great finish to the song.
The extended cut of “Beware The Creatures” I’m going to skip going into detail about, I’ll leave that to you to compare both versions if you like.
Marc‘s vocal lines on album closer “Perfect Illusion” gives the song a slightly different feel and yet its musically still very much in line with the rest of the album, The guitar playing on this song is exceptional. A powerful track to close out the album.
What an incredible album this is, As great as Creatures first album was this one absolutely outdoes it in pretty much every way. The musicianship and songwriting are impressive, Marc‘s vocals take these incredible songs and help them soar even further.
This is an album that you really should hear, Definitely among the best of this year.
9/10