Primal Rock Rebellion is the rather unlikely collaboration of Adrian Smith and Mikee Goodman: the former a guitarist from one of the titans of metal, Iron Maiden, and the latter a vocalist from the underground, and now dissolved, progressive/mathcore/avant-garde group SikTh.  Their first album together, Awoken Broken, is a competent, if rather unambitious, effort.

 The album is a fairly straightforward meld of industrial and heavy metal, with a few quirks and twists here and there.  As usual, Smith’s guitar work is excellent if not flashy, and its grounded nature is an effective counterpart to Goodman’s versatile and aggressive vocal delivery.  It is fairly easy to pinpoint the respective contributions of each in the music, and while they are compatible, they fail to deliver a truly compelling whole.

 Part of the problem is that much of the album feels like a re-tread, either of itself or of several decades of pre-existing variations within the same style.  Several of the tracks fall into a morass of mid-tempo plodding, lacking any arresting elements to seize the attention of the listener.  A few songs stand out, particularly the opener “No Friendly Neighbour” and up-tempo rocker “Search for Bliss,” but the album never reaches (nor seems to aspire to) greatness.  I would have liked to see Smith and Goodman indulge a bit, either in the prog tendencies of the former or the extreme stylings of the latter; the material might have benefited from a little spice. 

 Given the talent of those behind the music, Awoken Broken feels like a disappointment.  While it is certainly a decent album, especially when compared to the genre’s most recent big collaboration, Metallica and Lou Reed’s bizarre Lulu, it is also far less compelling. And ultimately, it’s far less memorable.

—Graeme Davidson