Living In Anger is the latest release from Italian power metal band My Refuge, an EP which will be preceding their upcoming full-length which should be coming later in the year. Living In Anger is an overall good listen – as far as power metal goes there aren’t any surprises to be found, but it’s certainly worth a second glance because it’s one of the better releases out there.
Opener A Storm Is Coming packs a punch and it grabs your interest from the opening notes. Packed full of energy, soaring guitars and massive-sounding vocals you can’t help but want to sing along to, it’s the perfect way to get things going and sets the scene well for the remaining three tracks to come. Following track The Cage (Oh Demon In My Eyes) keeps the pace going before leading well into Living In Anger, which is a fantastic little number and features great vocals atop of some really powerful instrumentation, along with a truly memorable guitar solo just after the halfway point.
It can be fairly risky to end a release on a slow or acoustic number, but the risk really paid off for My Refuge because closer Empty Rooms is an emotional-sounding piece that’s all about the passionate-sounding vocals, which take centre stage here. The song really resonates and really contributes to the EP ending on a high as a result.
All in all, Living In Anger is a decent EP, but a fairly safe one – it will be nice if they take a few more risks with their upcoming album.
7/10
