Following up their debut album A Tragedy in Steele, Rebellion
is back with their sophomore album, Born A Rebel. If you're familiar
with this band, you know that this is the band formed by ex-Grave Digger
axeman Uwe Lulis. Unlike the band's first album which was a narrative of Shakespeare's
Macbeth, Born a Rebel is a straight forward metal album.
The straight forward sound of this album seems a much more comfortable fit
for Uwe. Naturally, the songs on the first album were crafted around lyrics
and spoken narration telling the story of Macbeth. This time around, the guys
crank out some hard hitting metal tunes without the obvious restraints that
a concept album such as the debut album poses. Uwe is much more generous with
his riffing, and as a result the songs are much more potent and hard hitting
compared to the debut. Some of Grave Digger's finer moments such as Excaliber
come to mind when listening to Uwe shred on this album. The vocalist has a very
rough delivery, which is a great fit for this aggressive, in your face style
of metal. However, his limited range does hinder his ability to emphasize the
melodic aspects of their music. For example, the mid-tempo track, One For All
and the Viking inspired Dragon's Fly sound a bit odd with rough aggressive vocals.
A more subdued vocal delivery would have helped, as he seems to sing at full
throttle regardless of the tempo. Heart pounding heavy metal tunes are unquestionably
what Rebellion does best.
Born a Rebel is certainly a very good metal album, but it does tread
in very familiar water. The melodies are rather mediocre, which makes the songs
less memorable on an individual basis. The album does lack originality, but
the musicianship of the band (especially that of Uwe Lulis), picks up the slack.
Having said that, fans of traditional heavy metal acts such as Accept,
Grave Digger, Running Wild and fans of Uwe Lulis in general will
be the most pleased with this album. As with the debut, the production on this
album is also crisp and very well done. Born a Rebel probably won't become
one of your favorite traditional metal albums, since many bands have covered
and continue to cover this territory almost flawlessly. However, the guitar
work alone is enough to make this a satisfying listen.