Label: V2 Records
Review by Tony Cannella
From The Netherlands, theNAME are a hugely underrated band. They formed in 2000 and have just issued their fourth album, “Unchained”. The sound is a mix of hard rock and metal with groove-laden riffs. They have toured extensively throughout Europe with some of hard rock and metal’s biggest and best acts – most recently theNAME has shared the stage with Tarja Turunen.
From the opening track “Draw the Line”, the riffs are so damn infectious and the songs boast a lot of power and energy which are contagious as well. The songs have a certain groove metal quality with the riffs. The production is very clear and in-your-face. “Imperfect” makes a heavy impact with its machine gun style riffing and pounding metal rhythms. “Twisted” is my favorite song and features changing tempos and some denser riffing. “Unchained” maintains a steady and consistent pace throughout its duration. Other highlights include: “Image”, “Missed” and “One”.
It’s a mystery to me how TheNAME has managed to fly under the radar for all these years. Well, with “Unchained” that should hopefully and rightfully change.
Rating – 86/100
Tracklist
- Draw the Line
- Radiate
- Masquerade
- Imperfect
- Twisted
- Image
- Missed
- One
- Restricted
- Fight
- Cruel Thoughts
- Into My Dream
Line Up
- Hadassa – Vocals
- Silas – Guitar
- Rens – Guitar
- Tim – Bass
- Jasper – Drums