[REVIEW] Sovereign Strength “The Prophecy”

Artist: Sovereign Strength
Album: The Prophecy
Label: Mediaskare
Release Date: August 2nd

Several years ago, christian band Sovereign Strength formed in 2006 from Palmdale, California. Since 2006 the band has toured with such acts as Those Who Lie Beneath, Wrench In The Works, Saving Grace, and Of Salt and Swine, Sovereign Strength also have undergone several lineup changes such as Nelson Flores on guitar, Tony Ramierez on drums and formerly the bassist and band founder Jordan King has taken the “reign” of vocalist on this record. The band has come with fists raised as they throw down “The Prophecy” with some of the heaviest tunes they have put out since “Reflections” last year.

Starting off with “Darkest Sin” Sovereign Strength came in hard with chords and two steps that instantly reminded me of acts such as Emmure, with the use of the signature “pick scratch” that we heard quite frequently on “The Respect Issue” and “Speaker of the Dead” but aside from that Jordan King surprised me and made me forget about their old vocalist as he is clearly the best choice and on this particular track he had the help of Jamie Hanks of “I Declare War” doing guest vocals.

The record seemed to continue with the heaviness that you would find comparable to listening to an Acacia Strain or Sleeping Giant record. I found the track “Bring Me Home” to be a surprising track on the record having it contain guest vocals from Shane Raymond of “Close Your Eyes” he really helped out in giving us a change of pace from the ripping vocal style of Jordan.

My favorite track off this whole record is “Last War” this is probably the most instrumentally sound track off the whole record with its fast paced two step and fluid transition into a double bass pedal was fantastic and a job well done, it definitely strayed away from the “chug chug chug” open palm mutes and power chords that seemed to be used a lot on this album, which I found myself having a hard time keeping interest with the overuse of them.

I really enjoyed “Revival” as it had a striking resemblance of Misery Signals all over it. Revival really surprised me with such a beautiful clean vocal outro, which in turn made me sad that they did not do this more often in this album.

In closing, I feel if you’re looking for a record that has the ferocity of Acacia Strain, the heaviness of Emmure and the moral value of Sleeping Giant then look no further Sovereign Strength’s “The Prophecy” is for you. I found “The Prophecy” to be repetitious at times but also at the same time a strong and heavy record with a new approach from the band which we can appreciate and I can’t wait to see and hear where this band takes their next record, as I did find myself two-steppin while listening to this record.