Seattle, Washington has offered the music world lots of talent: Heart; Queensryche; Metal Church; and Bloodgood. The latest talented group to emerge from this hotbed is Watchmen. (Got that? Watchmen, not "The Watchmen"...just Watchmen)
Here's some mature music for all rock and rollers. That's right, this is not your strict heavy metal album. It's got metal guitars, screaming vocals, monster BGV's, happenin' pop metal keyboards...mixed with some R&B hooks and a little saxophone.
The lyrics delight me. They're not real intelligent or extremely poetic, but they convey tons of scriptural and edifying words. Check out these lines in "United":
"The time has come/ to raise our fists and yell/ with His power/ we'll storm the gates of hell/ Call back His people/ take back His land/ Taking His kingdom/ to every man."
Watchmen put out an impressive custom tape, called Fear No Evil, and appeared on the Underground Metal album with the song "Fear No Evil"...both of which impressed Regency Records enough to garner a record contract. What Watchmen have delivered this time is really good. In fact, when it's cranked up really loud, it's outstanding. Standout cuts are hard to choose, but here's a few that jumped out at me: "Stand Strong", with it's bluesy groove and big anthemic chorus; "Straight", because of the Def Leppard-style melodic pop metal sound; "Best Friend", because it's a gutsy move for a hard rock band to make, plus the fact that they use the sax tastefully; and "United", an aggressive tune with a cool bass line throughout.
If I was a radio programmer, I'd run a different Watchmen song in several different formats. I'd play a song like "Best Friend" in both my "Contemporary" slot and "Album-Oriented Rock" slot. I'd run tunes like "Straight", "United", and "Stand Strong" in both metal and classic rock categories.
Get it if you're open to more than straight-ahead metal, and you're in for some creative rock 'n' roll.