Abandoned Souls

London's own Abandoned Souls hit their stride quite nicely on this new release. Recorded in The Forest City at Foundation Studios, it's a well produced piece of work that deserves a global audience and will hopefully be rewarded with one. From the songwriting to sonic ambiance to band musicianship, Insightful Minds AT Ease is a cohesive project that shows considerable thought and passion went into the creation and execution of these tracks. Overall, the band has managed to skillfully straddle the line between metal and melody with satisfying results, no mean feat in itself and it is this alchemy of styles that gives the album much of its appeal and power. Time to take this thing out on the road and work it into hit status.
- Rod Nicholson

Performance: B+/ Production: A - Scene Magazine

Based in the Forest City, well know hard rock band Abandoned Souls are back with another helping of bone crushing heavy metal. Led by lead vocalist/ bassist James Todd, Damned If You Don't also features screaming lead guitar licks from Derek De Kort and pounding drum fills courtesy of Tommy Dobrentey, who was replaced by Steve Thomas following this recording. There's nothing particularly subtle about the 14 tunes on this CD. The group attacks each track with great vigour, barely pausing to catch their breath. Throughout the album, Abandoned Souls deal with life's regrets, handling adversity and defiance of authority. While these are themes that often appear in the metal genre, Abandoned Souls delivers their messages in a solid airtight fashion. - John Sharpe - Scene Magazine

This is the second release from these Canadian rockers. Abandoned Souls energy is a combination of early rock such as Black Sabbath mixed with Alcatrazz with a new collection of rock of Disturbed and Black Stone Cherry.

As I understand this CD has continued where ‘Circles of Shadows’ has left off. This eleven-track collection is full of arena style rock with an intense intimate feel, filling us with hope and anger, making us ask questions and giving us the answers through a collection of classic tracks.

We have 40 minutes of pure pleasure through ‘Some Never Will’, ‘Fire’, and ‘Words of Wisdom’ through ‘Leave Me Alone’ to end with the power of ‘The Ground Beneath’ that leaves you wanting more.

Throughout the CD you do get the new feel of rock that is pushing it way into the system, which is giving the old rockers a run for their money and leaving them for dust. Like ‘Black Stone Cherry’ and ‘Alter Bridge’ Abandoned souls will join the elite with a ground-breaking release.

10/10

By Tony Watson - Metalliville.co.uk

London's own makers of metal mayhem, Abandoned Souls unleash their second full-length CD and the band's hard work shows in a more confident and polished release. They've stayed true to their hard rock roots but tracks like 'Fire' and 'Words of Wisdom' have hooky elements that are bound to earn them a new legion of fans. There's a definite grunge influence on tracks like 'Leave Me Alone,' which is a great showcase for Jay Hall's commanding vocals. Abandoned Souls have definitely beaten the sophomore jinx with the release of Some Never Will. -- Dave Clarke
Performance: B+/Production: B+
- Scene Magazine

Reviewer: Celtic Bob

This is the sophomore release from these Hard Rockers out of London, Ontario. Since their debut in 2006 they have been nominated for 2 London music awards as well as being featured on many music shows and programs.

With this release the band has come more into their own and have a much more uniformed sound. While some of their influences can still be heard, the album is much more consistent. There is a bit more of a modern edge to the songs this time around and are more melodic. Jay’s vocals are very powerful and emotional than on the previous effort which was a decent disc in itself. At times you can almost compare him to the late Layne Stayley from Alice In Chains around the DIRT era, maybe a little heavier. The relatively slow pace of the songs suits this singing style entirely.

Groundbreaking; No but very enjoyable to listen to and one you should check out. - Metal-Rules.com

Canadian band ABANDONED SOULS is playing typical Northern American Modern Metal a la DISTURBED, with a touch of NEVERMORE. 11 tunes are included on the band’s new album ‘Some Never Will’, which has a high quality production and could have been a major US label. Only pity is that most of the songs are in the same style, which is midtempo and this is also something that has been a point of discussion on the new albums of SHINEDOWN and DISTURBED, but happily the songs feature some strong melodies here and there, so ABANDONED SOULS can get away with it. They do their job well and fans of mentioned bands should check them out. (Points: 8.0 out of 10) www.strutter.co.nr

- Strutter'Zine