By: AvNatten

Posted: May 15, 2006

Beyond Fear is the brainchild of Tim "Ripper" Owens who is well known amongst us for his recent ventures with Iced Earth and the time he spent in the almighty Judas Priest. Although being a native of Ohio, Ripper crafted his stage presence and voice to emulate that of everyone's favorite british metal god, Rob Halford. After Halford rejoined the Judas Priest fold Tim found his new musical home in Iced Earth where he was greeted with contempt as he tried to fill the shoes of Matt Barlow. The resulting album "The Glorious Burden" wasn't received well by the fans and left many pointing the blame unjustly at Ripper who wasn't even a big part of the writing sessions on the album. On this disc, the Beyond Fear debut, Ripper is joined by guitarists John Comprix and Dwane Bihary, bassist Dennis Hayes, and drums are provided by Eric Elkins.

'Scream Machine' kicks off this disc with all guns blazing, Ripper's voice does just as his name implies and sears through your speakers he can hit the high notes with the best of them and also dig low when needed. This track is aggressive with pounding guitar and bass layered over the pummelling drums, easily one of the highlights of the album. 'Dreams Come True' is a slower track with thought provoking lyrics about dreams coming true and thoughts of the past. Owens' voice fits well with the slower tempo and has a touch of Bruce Dickinson-esque feeling to it. The down tuned guitars on the disc hit you in the face with a barrage of punches, blending classic heavy metal style with a more modern aggression. 'Words Of Wisdom' shows the band venturing onto thrash territory in which Owens throws in some rough shouting vocals to go along with his soaring higher pitched vocal melodies.

With Beyond Fear Owens proves that he is capable of writing some in your face rocking tunes and that he does not have to stand in the shadows as he has had to do in the past. Production wise it is top notch, having Jim Morris of the legendary Morrisound Studio at the helm. Lyrically it contains the topics you would expect, dreams, betrayal, vengeance, and a monster that is out to get you. With this being the debut album from Beyond Fear they have to prove to the fans that they are worth lending the listener's precious ears to, and I believe they have done that. Falling just short of fifty minutes the twelve tracks contained within "Beyond Fear" will have heads banging across the nation and perhaps even worldwide, all eyes will be on Ripper as we watch to see if he can pull these tracks off in a live setting and to see what else this brazen vocalist has in store for us.

Rating: 9/10

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