The Demo Review:
Ninth Level There are currently 1 Reviews of this Demo.
Average Rating: 5
Band Name: Ninth Level
Band Members: Ben Richardson (Bass, Vocals), Lorenzo Kemp (Guitars, Vocals), Mason Gregory (Drums), Noel Bello (Guitars)
Location: San Diego, CA
  • Official Web Site for This Artist
  • Discuss on the Metal Judgment Web Board

    • Musashi's Review:
    I have to admit that I was not really optimistic when I opened the envelope that contained this CD. The plain envelope contained a handwritten note torn out of a spiral notebook, a printed bio, printed lyrics sheet and a CD. I’ve seen worse, but I’ve seen a lot better. The bio is a longwinded story of how the bass player and guitar player met and fell in love and started the most incredible metal band that the world has ever seen. Really touching.

    As I put the CD in the stereo, I thought, as I often do, that this is going to be the crappy, home-burned, CD demo that is going to finally melt my speakers with a bunch of distorted square waves. To my surprise, this 6 song demo is really damn good. Apart from the typical death metal clichés, Ninth Level infuse their songs with keyboards and piano and a healthy dose of 20th Century classical music a la Bela Bartok and Frank Zappa. Ninth Level display a love for the progressive rock sound of Yes and Dream Theater. They also cite such influences as Morbid Angel, Meshuggah and Opeth. Is it any wonder why I am liking this CD?

    The CD is not perfect. The production quality and mix are weak. The vocals and the lyrics are somewhat forced (or maybe I just don’t understand the whole Aztec mythology thing). Ninth Level needs a little more work, but not much. If it were up to me, I would write simpler lyrics and cut out a lot of the vocal parts. These guys are really good instrumentalists and have put together a lot of good music. Ninth Level has taken interesting, well-written music and added to it mediocre, growling, death-metal vocals. Nonetheless, this is an excellent demo showcasing the bands abilities and strengths. With a little time and money this band could be out there touring around like Nile.

    So I decide to check out the website and see how it looks. What I found is a very simple yet informative and well-done website. My first impression of this band was obviously wrong. Despite scratching their letters on wrinkled loose leaf paper, Ninth Level are a very serious band of serious musicians.
    5 out of 5

    [- Metal Judgment Home -]    [- Email Metal Judgment -]
    ©1999 Metal Judgment. All rights reserved.