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As much as mainstream Heavy Metal has gone back underground in the last several years, Christian Heavy metal has gone even deeper. With once metal heavy publications as HM (formerly Heaven's Metal) steering into a more pop and rock oriented direction, and White Throne and Cephas extinct, its getting harder and harder to find out about any new Heavy Metal bands in the Christian underground. 

One good thing about metal being underground again is that the bands that play metal do so because they want to, and not out of some delusional "make it big" idea. Titanic have an obvious love for, and history in, the glorious field of Heavy Metal; and it shows in the energy and zeal put forth in this group of songs. Their bio sheet compared them to the likes of Saint, Judas Priest and other masters of mid-tempo, head-banging riffola so I was anxious to give their new CD Screaming In Silence a spin. After letting it sink in for a while I have come to this conclusion. I have heard better metal recently, but I have also heard much, much worse. 

Where a lot of bands in this particular genre of Metal fall short, Titanic manages to hit the ground running. Vocalist Simon Taylor has a solid, gutsy mid-range metal voice that really helps put this material over the edge. A band lives and dies by their vocalist, it doesn't matter what style of music you play. You can have the best guitarist in a thousand mile radius and the best drummer since John Bonham, but without a vocalist of equal caliber, you're doomed to a career of mediocrity and "we once opened for so and so." Kudos to Simon!

The band itself is just as hot. Guitarist Bill Menchen, bassist Ray Kilsdonk, and drummer Timothy II (Stryper's Robert Sweet also guests on 3 tracks) have this Metal thing down to a science. In the fine tradition of bands like the aforementioned Saint and Judas Priest, as well as Armored Saint and early, pre-pop Def Leppard, these guys deliver on all cylinders musically! They combine biting, thick guitar tones, beefy bass and pounding drum fills into quite a tasty concoction. Musically and vocally, Titanic is batting a thousand. 

Lyrically is where I feel like they can do a better job. Song titles like "Time," "Carnival Of Souls," "Gods Of War," and "Broken Toys" alone do a little more than hint at worn out themes. I know that the ills of a fallen world are generally the same, but that doesn't mean that artists can't look for more creative ways of shedding light on them. I don't want to use the word "trite", but a lot of the lyrics are dripping with "been there, heard that". "Question" offers "Do you Rock n' Roll? - Does it take control?" There are also several more instances with obvious rhymes like "head" and "dead," or "way" and "pay," or the ever popular "dream" and "scream." I will say that not all the lyrics are as bad as this, but this is definitely an area with room for improvement on the next album [which I am looking forward to].

I realize I am being a little nit-picky with the lyric thing, but when a scene (even one as underground as Metal) has so many bands clamoring for attention, a band needs to do what they can to stand apart from the masses, within their chosen framework. All in all though, Screaming In Silence is a strong metal record that I think tons of metal fans can get into. If Classic Heavy Metal is your poison, Titanic will serve you well. 

Shawn Pelata 8/31/2003