Walken – Walken (2009)

The American band Walken caught my surprise when I first popped their CD on my sound system because of the interesting mixture of genres they use. The band’s sound is very diverse in the sense that you can find a big Trash Metal influence, as well as hints of Crossover/Punk Metal and very interesting melodic parts.

Having released only 2 full-length albums in a career spanning over 10 years, I keep thinking how band’s like this are not signed and other very shitty bands have recording contracts. Featuring member of Prog-Metal/Rock Grayceon we can see how they influence the band’s music into a different direction than when the band started.

With 11 tracks and 51 minutes of music, their self titled release kicks major ass and hopefully will put the band on the map. The guitar work is excellent, and while simple it’s very catchy and appealing. The drumming is very well varied through the tracks and provides enough room for the melodic aspect of the band to shine.

The vocals change from harsh vocals to clean within the songs making them very dynamic and keeping the listener well engaged. The band’s overall music writing skills is pretty good and it can only get better in my opinion, since their style is very different from what most bands are doing these days in the Trash Metal / Crossover genres.

Walken in overall is a very good self-produced album that will surely get the band more fans in the Metal community. However if you are a straight up Trash Metal fan you will not be pleased with this album, but if you like experimentation on the genre then look no further. So be sure you head over to the band’s website and pick up a copy of this very interesting release.

Release: October 29th, 2009

Country: USA