Held Under/Discovery-Anthology

Stormspell
2008

This band from Preston, Washington began as Discovery as was formed by the Stevens brothers Michael (vocals) and guitarist Patrick. They formed in 1983 and plugged along recording demos and an EP, but didn't get signed. In the early 90's they changed the band name to Dorian Gray and had changed a few members as well. They were set to record, but decided to go with "Held Under" as the band name since they learned that there were other acts using the name "Dorian Gray". They recorded another demo and could still not get signed, but plugged along some more into the 1990's before disbanding. Okay, now I need to close the book on this history lesson since I have given you the background. That will also free me up to get at the important matter, which is what is the music like? This is a two disc set with the first disc being the Held Under material which was recorded in 1991, 1995 and 1997. They follow a style of early power metal similar to Leatherwolf and Fifth Angel. They obviously were strongly influenced by classic metal acts like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and the Scorpions, but they also have a definite touch of early progressive metal bands mixed as well. The Held Under disc has the bands more complicated and balanced songs plus the production is better. These guys were tight and knew how to manipulate their music with equal amounts of control and finesse. The vocals compliment the music with a broad enough range, but were a little low in the mix on several tracks. The Discovery disc finds the band playing a style that's in the same ball park, but certainly more basic and little more loose in the structure. You can still certainly hear the potential and the talent even if the production isn't always spectacular. My only real complaint on this set is that I think I would have enjoyed it more if it were in chronological order with the Discovery disc coming first and Held Under second. That way you could hear the musical growth like it happened, but of course I can listen to it in that order now if I want to. I had never heard of this band before and don't know if their failure to get signed was due to the crowded market or that they just got overlooked. However the bottom line is that they were talented and they knocked out and fortunately for us they recorded these 29 tracks between 1986 and 1997 so they we can now enjoy them.

http://www.myspace.com/heldunderseattle