Review by J. Adrian Stanley, music reviewer for the CS Gazette.
"Distant Warning's new CD pounds out classic brand of morbid metal"
Title: "For All Eternity" by Distant Warning
Style: Metal
Personnel: Ron Bordelon (vocals), Duane Velasquez (lead guitar), Jim Lasselle (bass), Andrew Anteola (rhythm guitar), Mike Pittman (drums).
What the band's all about: Distant Warning has been making its brand of melodic metal since 1993. They play most of their shows in Denver, but still loves to perform at the Union Station.
Inspiration for the album: "We had made three demos prior and we wanted to make a really polished album out of the best tracks on those demos.", Velasquez said. "'For All Eternity' is the title of a song that's going to be on the next album."
Best CD moment: "I think the track 'Desiree' is probably the people's favorite - it's like our anthem.", Velasquez says.
CD Vitals: 12 tracks, 65 minutes, produced by Distant Warning.
Available at: Independent Records, Mosh Pit Records, Distant Warning's website.
Review: Distant Warning's '80s pop-metal is so withdrawn from modern style that the band might have been accidentally transported to the present time in Marty McFly's DeLorean. The band's sound is a little less whiny than Dokken, a little more Dungeons and Dragons than the Scorpions, and a little more common than Ozzy Osbourne. Although you'll notice the influence of Helloween in the band's sound, singer Ron Bordelon doesn't have the same opera-singer-on-crack squeal that Michael Kiske did. Musically speaking, the band is tight and the guitar solos are frequent and satisfactory. The instrumental "Shadowkeep" is complex and well woven, proving the band can ably crank it out, even if the music is predictably structured. The band composes interesting stories and tells them well, but there's an extraordinary emphasis on the weary metal themes of death, crucifixes, blood and angst. "Desiree," the enticingly ominous tale of a Cajun witch, is easily the band's biggest lyrical departure. Fans of classic-styled metal will find a gem in the rocker "Rest in Peace". And it is hard to resist the theatrical "The Ripper", which is a little "Spinal Tap" silly, but still a lot of fun. One can hardly resist chanting along to the infectious line, "Call me the Ripp-er!"