Vengeance Rising - "Released Upon the Earth"

Vengeance Rising - Released Upon the Earth

1992/2014, Roxx 

1. Help Me

2. The Damnation of Judas and the Salvation of the Thief

3. Released Upon the Earth

4. Human Dark Potential

5. Instruments of Death

6. Lest You Be Judged

7. Out of Bounds

8. Bishop of Souls

9. Tion

10. You Will Be Hated

Bonus Tracks

11. Interview (Daniel & Johnny)

12. Interview (George Ochoa)

Released Upon the Earth is a much better album than Destruction Comes. I think this is due in part to Roger having some help from people like Jimmy Brown (Deliverance), Johnny Vasquez (Sacred Warrior), and Jamie Mitchell (Scaterd Few). I think Roger wanted to move to a more death metal sound as a few tracks on this album boarder on that ("Human Dark Potential" and "Instruments of Death"). Still, it's not quite up there with the first two albums. Simplistic riffs still abound but the fantastic drumming, Roger's unique lyrical style, and overall vibe manage to make it enjoyable. There's even some pretty good bass work by Victor Macias (Tourniquet). Specifically, the bass line in "Lest You Be Judged" is just sick - one of the best tracks, by the by. It's odd that the album begins with a six-minute "almost instrumental" with "Help Me." It's a plodding and ponderous song that's quite unsettling when you remember just what was going on with Roger at the time. Hearing him scream "HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" kind of puts chills down my spine. 

Released has just been... well... released by Roxx Records. It has been remastered and expanded a little bit. There are a couple interviews included as bonus tracks along with some liner notes by the touring guitarist. The remaster sounds great and the artwork and design is awesome too. They even kept that strange font the song titles were written in on the original edition. That earns some definite points with me. 

Useless Fact: "Tion" will rip to your Itunes as "Zion" so keep that in mind.