Five Hundredth Year ‘Rose From Ashes’ EP Review: Awesome

Proving that they can satisfy in a variety of different ways, whether it be with the machine gun-esque bass pedal on their drums or through top-notch guitar work and well-crafted lyrics, metal act Five Hundredth Year are the type of metal band that has an awesome duality.

While they can and will appeal to fans of Breaking Benjamin, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed and even Rob Zombie, they have mainstream sensibilities thanks to vocal work that is so much more than angsty. Sure, there’s screaming, growling and anger there, but you can hear it all- you can connect with it.

While several of the tracks on the EP “Awaken in Silence” and “Stand Up” for example, have excellent drum work, thanks to Zach Hanus and frenetic guitar riffs (Ben Moss, Jimmers) and shouldn’t be overlooked, it’s the vocal work of bassist Brenda Bennett that adds something “extra” to the other tunes on the EP. On “Breaking Point,” Bennett sounds almost like a siren. She has the power to sway ships here, make no mistake

On the other hand, “Blame” is a fast-paced track that could be the theme song for a rocker-type WWE superstar. From the steady drum work and the awesome lyrics, it’s a fight night anthem with a ton of vocal depth. On “Talking Body” lead vocalist John Pampreen plays with his voice a bit and although he sounds more mainstream rock than metal, the sound is amazing thanks to vocal variety, a wonderful hook and fantastic guitar work. And again, thanks to the influx of a few vocal lines from Bennett, the track is more than your standard metal fare.

Simply put, while Five Hundredth Year sounds similar to bands the likes of Breaking Benjamin and Five Finger Death Punch, it is their dynamic vocal chemistry and not their otherwise solid musicianship that sets them apart from the myriad of other Metal bands out there. Their drum work, guitar and bass lines can hold their own with any other metal band in the business, but solid two-part vocal harmony and well-crafted lyrics is what makes them a special group.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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