BONEYARD – Oathbreaker (2020)

Hailing from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, BONEYARD is a Hard Rock / Classic Metal which started back in 2015 covering songs from famous bands until decided to do their own thing. This project is all about blood, sweat and tears and they poured their soul into their first full-length album “Oathbreaker“, delayed by the worldwide pandemic but well worth the wait of almost 10 months.
Powered by the melodic singing of female lead vocalist Pamtera and some solid guitar melodies reminiscent of classic ’80s acts, BONEYARD rocks with style.

Opener and first single ‘Fates Warning’ delivers an intriguing combination of Iron Maiden like guitar melodies (I am thinking Somewhere In Time / Seventh Son of A Seventh Son era) with a female singer who is literally singing along in an almost soothing like voice while taking each song in a different direction.
At first, the album ”Oathbreaker” was simply enjoyable to listen to but the more that I listened to it, the more I got into it.

Certain tracks really started popping out including the haunting and mesmerizing title track ‘Oathbreaker’, the riff driven ‘Gone’, the melody laden ‘Monster’ and the peppy yet groove oriented “Born Again.”
Female lead vocalist Pamtera just doesn’t possess the type of voice that I would expect hard rock / metal band but that is what sets Boneyard apart from the crowd. While most of the time Pamtera just sings in a very melodic manner, she can also ramp it up a notch such as on the killer ‘Tune Attack’.

There really aren’t any weak tracks on Boneyard‘s debut album ”Oathbreaker” and each time that I listen to it, I discover something new because the vocals, the guitar work and melodies are really well crafted and quite intriguing by themselves.
We initially assumed that this was a traditional singer / guitarist / bassist / drummer line-up. However, after listening this CD it was obvious that there were some great dual guitar melodies throughout the album. Three of the band members contribute some guitar work on the album with Pamtera, Dennis Cooke and Grant Tarapacki all involved in that regard.

Boneyard‘s debut record ”Oathbreaker” is the kind of album that gets a better each time that you listen to it since the record has so much to offer: quality musicianship, strong songwriting and amazing singer.
Highly Recommended

 

01 – Fates Warning
02 – Gone
03 – Evil Ways
04 – Smoke the Sky
05 – Oathbreaker
06 – Rat Race
07 – Monster
08 – Born Again
09 – Hope
10 – Tune Attack
11 – Catch Me If You Can

Pam-tera – Vocals and Guitars
Dennis Cooke – Bass, Guitars
Grant Tarapacki – Lead Guitars
Jeff Cunningham – Drums and Percussion

 

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