SPEEDEALER

"Second Sight"

Palm Pictures

It takes no longer than the first screaming blast from the vocal chords of lead singer, Jeff Hirshberg, and the scorching guitar of Eric Schmidt to answer any questions about this band's inclination. Hirshberg, Schmidt, bassist Rodney Skelton and drummer Harden Harrison formed Speadealer in 1994 and has released three CDs. Speadealer artfully blends three decades of metal into a fresh sound. The early metal of Zeppelin and Sabbath and the later 'equivalents' such as Soundgarden or Whitesnake were certainly of the same genre, but generally appealed to different demographics. Searing, piercing and visceral, yet with a more diverse appeal than their counterparts, Speedealer is new millennium metal. Mixing in some punk, grunge, hard and art rock, their style widens the metal spectrum. They are a medium for the past with a vision for the future. Speedealer reaches a new level on "Second Sight." With the help of producer Jason Newsted, they've been able to harness the steamroller of raw punk energy that pervaded previous releases. For those of you who haven't been around for the last 15 years or so, Newsted is the bassist for the king of metal bands, Metallica. With Newsted's influence, Speedealer is able to build on the foundation of his successful studio experiences. In this effort that is scheduled for release in early June, Speedealer should make its producer's and all metal bands proud, and a little bit jealous.

What allows Speedealer to stand out is that it deftly merges melody with moving anthems - anthems that are without question on the stylistic level of any of their legendary counterparts - so seamlessly that the music is nothing less than mesmerizing. The greatest example of this happens on the final three tracks of the CD, "Slowly Burning Alive," "Infinitesimal" and "Machinations." "Slowly Burning Alive" is the perfect blend of lyrics, chorus, instrumental interplay, and vocals. A roller coaster of emotion, it strikes to the heart of metal madness. Musically, "Infinitesinal" is more like classic avante-garde rock. It's mind expanding metal. With a perfect duel between guitar and percussion, your heart will skip a few beats to keep up, then without warning the duel ends, and the percussion backs off. The guitar takes a little respite playing some classic quiet chords until the drums and bass move in with some clear and powerful strokes. All instrumental, it is one of the classic sparring matches between the classic rock and roll instruments - guitar, bass, and drums. After almost being lulled into a kind of musical shock, the next tune, "Machinations," blasts in with Hirshberg's soaring vocals over precise speed metal guitar. As fast as the guitar kicks in, the tune kicks out in a little over a minute.

I happened to be watching the movie "Rock Star" last night. A story about a fictional 1980's metal band, and its lead singer. Quite apropos considering that I am now working on this Speedealer review a few hours later. Frankly, between listening to "Second Sight" over the last day and the music in the movie last night, it's more metal than I've consciously chosen to listen to in the last year. However, "Second Sight" has spurred me on to listen more. I don't do this often after writing a review, but I am going to listen to this CD again right after I finish writing (I usually give CDs a bit of a rest after putting so much thought into them). For those of you who saw "Rock Star," not only is "Second Sight" worlds better music than in the aforementioned movie, it stretches beyond the "mainstream" metal of the 1980's, and the 1990's as well. And to their producer, I say "watch out" because you've helped a young band equal the power of your own band.

- Dave Geller

****1/2