HEROD

Buffalo, New York's ever-changing HEROD showed a lot of promise with the classy melodic metal of 2004's "For Whom the Gods Would Destroy". The group blended a fundamentally modern sound with traditional metal roots and an impeccable sense of melody. So what happened? "Rich Man's War…Poor Man's Fight" sees the group transforming its sound once again, this time in an almost regressive fashion, now moving to a kind of power metal, thrash, and hard rock mix. The style in and of itself wouldn't be a problem if the songwriting was strong across the board and most of the material didn't come off like second-rate power metal.

In fairness, a few tunes are at least tolerable and there are several sections of convincing thrash riffing and the occasional hot solo. On the up side (and I use the term loosely here),songs like "Assimilation", and "All Night" are semi-respectable stabs and melodic metal and hard rock, but neither leave an indelible impression. There is even a little cock rock action going on in parts of the swaggering and seemingly '80s-inspired "One Life to Burn", and it just doesn't work very well. "Lies and Betrayal" and "Broken Promises" almost get there with some cool thrashy parts and then plummet into sub-par power metal, while another '80s-esque, sort of thrashy power metal rocker "The Fire" is memorable more for its awkwardness than any kind of hook-laden approach. The ballad-esque (include acoustic parts) "Forever" is embarrassingly bad, its clichés not even good clichés. The guitar solo falls flat too. There really isn't much to grab hold of in "The Ring", "Grand Design", or "Journey of Creation" either.

I wouldn't necessarily call "Rich Man's War…Poor Man's Fight" a miserable failure, but it is a disappointment. Something is keeping me from completely trashing the album, maybe the handful of so-so tunes, the moments of ripping guitar, or the missed chances for greatness that can be heard at various points along the way. In the final analysis though, there are simply too many better melodic metal albums on which to spend your money.