The Demo Review:
Tempered Steel There are currently 1 Reviews of this Demo.
Average Rating: 4
Band Name: Tempered Steel
Demo Title: In Your Face
Band Members: Steve Boyd (Vocals & Acoustic Guitar), Brian Boyd (Guitar & Backing Vocals), James Redmond (Drums & Backing Vocals), Rhett Runolfson (Bass & Backing Vocals)
Location: Orem, UT
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    • Musashi's Review:
    One of the cool things about going to the Metalfest when you write for Metal Judgment.com is that bands love to give you their CDs to review. My next few reviews will focus on demos that I picked up at the Metalfest.

    The In Your Face CD is a full length CD with 10 songs on it. The CD only has the names of the songs and the band members. The only contact information on the CD is the URL www.temperedsteel.net. I went to the site and it was closed down. So I tried MP3.com and found that Tempered Steel has their own page there. That's how I was able to find out any information about them.

    Inspection of the site reveals that three songs "Shadow People", "Daniel Messiah" and "In My Hour Of Freedom" are credited to the album Escape From Utopia. Furthermore, the sonic quality varies greatly between some of the songs. There is no mention of the In Your Face CD on the site. This leads me to believe that the In Your Face CD is a compilation of songs from Tempered Steel's other releases. I suppose it would be nice if they let you know where the songs come from.

    The sound quality is good but not great. Also, the sound quality varies from song to song a lot. Overall, the low end is really muddy; the midrange lacks punch; and the high end has some bite but sounds thin. There are very few effects used on the vocals and instruments which leads to a very dry production. Although, the levels are all fine, the tracks could stand a good remix to polish them up.

    Their sound is power metal reminiscent of Ozzy and Maiden. The songs are good but nothing knocks me off my feet. The song I like best is the last song, "Escape From Utopia." This song has the epic feel of old Iron Maiden and the doubled guitar parts that I like. The song is on another level from the other material on the CD. I would like to hear more of the same from this band.

    I think the singer is good and has a good voice for this shade of metal. The musicianship is good. I suggest that TS get themselves into a better recording studio for the next recording sessions. These guys are definitely keeping the flame alive. I hope to hear more stuff from them soon.
    4 out of 5

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