Sometimes part-time interests can turn into full-time jobs. So it is with Ryan Helm and Damien Deadson. This band began as a solo project, which allowed the (now former) Demon Hunter guitarist to focus more attention on his singing pursuits. While there is plenty of the harsh rock you might expect from an artist with such respected musical credentials, the pretty piano song, “The Burning Sorrow Part 2: Liberation,” with its subtle dance groove, is pleasantly unexpected. On “Challenges of Change,” Helm combines dark screaming vocals with powerfully dramatic anthemlike vocals, over a guitar groove that takes on a nearly industrial rhythm. A Warm and Dark Embrace is sometimes like an auditory chameleon, because just when you think you have it pegged stylistically, it changes to something (nearly) completely different. Helm clearly has the vision of a solo artist; he’s not just dorking around in the studio, and this makes him well worth embracing.

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Dan Macintosh

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