adg211288 Spell Eater is the debut full-length album by US metal act Huntress. The female fronted act has previously released an EP called Off With Her Head in 2010 but has gone through a couple of line-up changes since then. Initially taking the whole line-up of another US band called Professor with the addition of Jill Janus, Huntress’ line-up now only includes the guitarists from Professor, Blake Meahl and Ian Alden. Joining the line-up is former DarkBlack drummer Carl Wierzbicky and former Skeletonwitch bassist Eric Harris. Spell Eater was released in April 2012, following quite a lengthy build up since the December 2011 release of the album’s lead single Eight of Swords.

Huntress plays traditional heavy metal, but there are several tracks on Spell Eater that also draw on thrash metal. We’re not talking an album that brings anything particularly new to the table, but maybe there’s a reason why it’s called ‘traditional’ heavy metal. After all why break a winning formula?

Unfortunately prior to publishing this review it has come to my attention that they album has had some mixed reactions, and sadly the negative side of those reactions often seems to be more about Jill Janus’ image than anything. I wanted to write this without bringing image into it but I’ve decided that’s impossible (mostly because some of the stereotypical reactions annoy me), so I’m going to get my view on this out of the way now before I talk about the music proper. It’s true that in most of the band’s photos Jill cuts quite the scantily clad look, which will no doubt on one hand draw some people to her and Huntress, but on the other make people think the band is hiding a lack of talent behind a hot female with little clothing on. The latter is simply not true. Jill Janus may show a lot more skin than some are really comfortable with, but she also certainly has the vocal skills to back it up with. What we are talking about is one of the best albums of traditional heavy metal you’re likely to hear in 2012.

And Jill Janus is in fact the main reason for that. While she’s got a great group of musicians behind her on Spell Eater delivering some killer riffs and leads it’s this lady’s vocals that make all the difference. Unlike the majority of female vocalists in metal acts, Jill does not sing pop (Sirenia, Skylark etc), nor does she sing opera (Tarja, Xandria etc). Jill Janus sings metal. And she sings metal really damn well, better than most men I dare say. With vocals ranging from an aggressive and gritty approach to more melodic lines to the odd bit of growling that can go towards both death and black metal styles, there isn’t a twist and turn on the album that she doesn’t handle. Her performance is sensational all the way through and we’re definitely talking the same level of calibre as the likes of Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) or Matt Barlow (ex-Iced Earth). I know those are all male, but with the style of vocals Jill delivers, much like with growling, gender is pretty much irrelevant. These are very much heavy metal vocals and there is no better way to describe them. Of course if you want comparisons to be made to female vocalists then you need look no further than Marta Gabriel (Crystal Viper) or Kate French (Vainglory). I’d say Jill Janus has even more aggression in her vocals than either of them though.

The production of the music is clear yet not as polished as some other modern heavy metal albums I’ve heard, but neither is it totally retro sounding. I think they found the perfect balance here already so it shows off the band’s skill as musicians perfectly without coming across as being too manufactured.

One thing I will say about the songs though is that nearly all of them required at least three listens in order to properly click with me, and a couple of them took even more than that. It’s only really that single Eight of Swords that is an immediate attention grabber. But once I’d given Spell Eater several full spins more of more tracks began to stand out until at last the whole album sounded of the same sort of quality as Eight of Swords did right from the off. Although I can single out Eight of Swords as the album’s true jewel because it does stand out faster than all the other tracks, there’s not a track here that doesn’t have its own merits both musically or vocally. From the opening aggression and great riffs of the title track to the infectious Senicide or the use of black metal growling in Sleep and Death to the stunning vocal control displayed by Janus during Aradia, Spell Eater is an album that, once given the proper time for it to sink in, will have you coming back for more and more. The band’s prior EP barely even hinted as the power that Huntress was going to go on to have with this debut. Believe the hype, because Spell Eater is one of those albums that, as Dark Forest’s Dawn of Infinity did for me in 2011, came out of nowhere and blew me away.

And yet it still feels very much more than just a top quality heavy metal album. Albums have excited me before in the past but never quite to the level of what Huntress just did with Spell Eater. I think it’s for that reason that this review was one of the hardest I’ve ever written. While Huntress may be just a bit too much rooted in traditional values musically (though I have no problem with that) to be accepted by the wider metal crowd in today’s metal scene of many metalcore and so called djent bands making names for themselves I don’t think it’s unfair to say that Huntress have put out a debut to rival the greatest metal debuts of all time. Spell Eater is an aggressive, catchy and passionate slab of heavy metal and if there is such a thing as ‘true’ metal then this album certainly is it, not to mention that in Jill Janus the band has a vocalist of the highest calibre, possibly even the best heavy metal vocalist to hit the scene in years.

While topping this beast may be difficult for the band, I have no doubt that Huntress are the band leading the way among the growing number of female fronted heavy and power metal bands who have been releasing albums in 2012. This is an absolute must-buy and a top-tier score is well deserved. If people don’t give Spell Eater a chance just because they don’t agree with the band’s pagan ideology, their (or rather Jill’s) image, which honestly isn’t at all unfitting to her lyrics, or simply think they’ve received too much hype from the metal press to be worth listening to, then it is their loss and theirs alone. I rarely swear in my reviews but this time I will make an exception; Huntress are metal as fuck, and their naysayers need to deal with that. If you don’t at least acknowledge this as more than a scantily clad female fronting at metal band, then I highly doubt that you either really like or understand heavy metal. Not really.

9.8/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 And so here we have A Sound of Thunder coming out of the USA, who look set to make a lot of noise this year along with several other acts as a part of a group of female fronted traditional and power metal bands releasing albums in 2012. That is if people sit up and pay attention to the quality of music coming out of these acts instead of worrying about the boring and repetitive djent scene. Okay, that was a little low attacking a style completely unrelated to this album I’m reviewing, but sue me I got sick of this djent stuff fast and with these female fronted heavy and power metal acts I’ve been hearing consistent high quality metal that in most cases seems to be going completely under the radar, which as far as this reviewer is concerned is a travesty. Out of the Darkness is the second album from A Sound of Thunder and continues the trend I’ve experienced of current traditional metal releases with female vocalists being the best traditional metal releases of the year so far.

If you’re a regular reader of my writing you’ve likely encountered reviews for some of the other artists playing traditional/power metal with female vocals by now. I expect it wouldn’t be unfair of you to be thinking by now something along the lines of “so do I really need all of these bands you’ve covered lately?”. Well, that’s probably the best thing about all the releases that fit this mould I’ve encountered, they all have their own identity. What sets A Sound of Thunder apart on Out of the Darkness is their penchant for more complex song structures, evident straight away with the opening The Day I Die, and that their singer Nina Osegueda is more inclined to use a lot more clear and melodic vocals along with the much more aggressive approach of Crystal Viper’s Marta Gabriel or Huntress’ Jill Janus, although she’s certainly capable of delivering her take on such vocals as well. I actually wish she used them a little more, since they give the band’s music a bit more bite against the highly melodic sound they produce.

The approach used in their actual music brings to mind at times the early material of Black Sabbath. The slower paced parts have a very notable doom feel to them in other words. I also detect a bit of power metal influence here and there, but mostly we’re talking a quite old school sounding traditional heavy metal release. The tracks are pretty well varied and easy to tell apart even after a relatively small number of listens, and I’d also say that A Sound of Thunder’s music is a bit more inventive than many other trad metal acts, which is something they make evident right with their opening number, The Day I Die. The light instrumental section is this track is very well crafted. Sections like this hint at some possible progressive influences among the A Sound of Thunder personnel. Although I don’t personally see Out of the Darkness as openly progressive, future release from A Sound of Thunder potentially could be if this is anything to go by.

Overall Out of the Darkness is a great album, but unfortunately there are a couple of tracks that just failed to live up to the high standard of the majority. Third track in, Kill That Bitch, is one of them. Musically it’s fine, but lyrically it just didn’t fit the whole thing A Sound of Thunder has going for them to these ears. It sounds more like it belongs in some random teenage revenge movie than on a metal album. I’m also not too fond of the ballad This Too Shall Pass, mostly because I think at over five minutes it’s just a bit too long. Not a bad track, it’s actually one of Nina’s vocal highlights, just one that outstays its welcome a little. The good thing is that all the other tracks are really good, especially The Day I Die, The Night Witch, Murderous Horde, A Sound of Thunder, Out of the Darkness (a duet with John Gallagher of Raven), actually I’m going to stop here, because I’m tempted to list more or less the rest of the whole album, the level of consistency is that high.

What we’ve ultimately got here is a really fine record that I think fans of old school metal are going to lap up. While not perfect by any means, A Sound of Thunder didn’t leave a lot of to be sniffed at really. Since in the wider view of things the two tracks that let the album down for me aren’t totally awful and it really is just these two tracks I find any fault with I’d say it only just misses out on an exceptional rating. I think A Sound of Thunder is going to blow this album out of the water next time around though.

8.4/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Crimen Excepta is the fourth full-length album from Polish female fronted heavy/power metal band Crystal Viper. Crimen Excepta is one of a few albums I’ve taken note of from early 2012 that fits the style of heavy and/or power metal with female vocals that aren’t in the operatic style commonly associated with female-fronted metal, the others being releases from Sweden’s Hysterica, and USA’s Huntress and A Sound of Thunder. Hysterica and Huntress have produced really excellent albums with The Art of Metal and Spell Eater respectively while A Sound of Thunder sounds very promising with Out of the Darkness. Crystal Viper adds to the growing pile of high quality female fronted metal releases of 2012 that stand for more traditional values in metal. If Crimen Excepta and the other albums are anything to go by, then I predict that female fronted so call ‘true’ metal (well, heavy and power metal to be more accurate) is going become very big and very soon.

Although I’ve seen Crystal Viper mostly associated as a traditional heavy metal band, Crimen Excepta has a good deal to do with power metal as well, more so than it does heavy metal really, the guitar driven power metal that is, not the keyboard laden type. It’s easy to hear leanings towards both styles though, especially with the trad the leanings that are towards the sound of the NWoBHM. I don’t find it hard to imagine Iron Maiden doing some of these tracks actually, and Crystal Viper is clearly cut from the same sort of cloth; memorable riffs, strong vocals, and good soloing. I’ve encountered the band’s music before but only their debut album, and I think they’re definitely evolved a lot in the relatively few years between that and Crimen Excepta.

Maybe I should get my only real issue out of the way before I get any further, and this is the part where I question the need to place a short interlude track as every other track on the album. They are so short that they don’t really add anything; they only feel like they’re there really to give the listen the briefest of breathers before the band throw their next heavy/power metal anthem at them. I guess it that respect they’ve effective enough, but between every track? That’s most definitely overkill as far as I’m concerned but if you look beyond my current negative tone and consider that this is my only real complaint about the album then you’ll realise that we’re talking an excellent release.

While I wouldn’t say it breaks any moulds, Crystal Viper is one of those bands that do what they do so well that I can’t help but consider it worthy of the higher tiers of ratings that I give to albums. The opening track Witch's Mark sets the pace and level of quality with the fast paced riffs and frankly awesome vocals from Marta Gabriel that will have you in the zone for the rest of the album by the time the chorus hits. While one might consider it samey the album isn’t really long to get stale, clocking in at just under the forty-five minute mark without bonus tracks.

That’s not to say we don’t get treated to a few surprises. Keyboards get used in some places to add additional flavours to the sound, and in a move that goes against the norm for current metal music, they aren’t used in a symphonic manner, but rather to add an eerie layer to the sound that fits in perfectly with Marta Gabriel and Andy Wave’s pounding guitars, not to mention the album’s concept of inquisition, black magic and witches. David Bower from resurrected NWoBHM band Hell also pops up for what I hope will be a well received guest appearance during the title track, bring with him the theatrical vocals that made Hell’s Human Remains so special in 2011. His and Marta Gabriel’s voices work together really well actually.

It’s true that a couple of the tracks, such as Hope Is Gone, Here's New Law, aren’t quite up to the standard of the album’s best offerings such as Witch’s Mark, the title track and It's Your Omen, but we’re talking generally well crafted heavy/power metal tracks with all the aspects of a great classic metal sound covered. It’s a highly enjoyable affair.

Crimen Excepta is an impressive slab of heavy/power metal which I’m sure will fuel the seemingly growing market for female fronted acts in this style. It’s most definitely an album that you should be getting your hands on if the style of any of the other acts I’ve mentioned in this review appeals to you, or of much longer established artists such as Doro. But with a classic metal sound like this no metalhead should really go wrong with Crimen Excepta. All the songs are fast paced and true to the classic metal sounds and credentials of the 80’s.

9.1/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 The Serpent’s Curse is the second full-length release from UK symphonic metal act Pythia. For a young band they’ve left it quite a while since dropping their debut, Beneath the Veiled Embrace, which was released in 2009. Although I enjoyed their debut it didn’t particularly grab me as anything special either. Time seems to have been well spent between albums for Pythia though as in 2012 they’ve blasted back with a slightly altered line-up that now includes To-Mera’s Mark Harrington and an album that looks set to catapult the band right up there to stand among the greats of symphonic metal.

The up in the quality of the material is just astounding. In 2009 Beneath the Veiled Embrace had me considering Pythia to be just another half-decent symphonic metal band. Then The Serpent’s Curse comes along, knocks that notion on the head and asserts itself as one of 2012’s best symphonic metal releases, even going as far to blow one of the big guns of the style out of the water (Epica). Only the recent release from Xandria, Neverworld’s End really tops what Pythia just did with the Serpent’s Curse. But while that album is a perfect example of symphonic power metal of the vein Nightwish used to play The Serpent’s Curse is a symphonic power metal album with a much more unique approach to what the genre has previously established. Although I prefer Xandria’s out of this year’s symphonic metal releases so far, Pythia have in all fairness made an album with much more going for it in the wider scheme of things.

That’s because they don’t just rely on a symphonic approach in their music. The slow and building clean guitars of the opening Cry of Our Nation is the first sign of this, being very much an atypical way to kick off a symphonic metal album. Normally you’d get a building symphonic intro track, so this is refreshing to say the least. More than this the band draws on other genres as well. Progressive tendencies creep in during some parts but more than that, they band is also influenced by extreme metal styles, particularly thrash metal. The guitars are allowed much more of free reign than they are in other symphonic bands, making them feel very much the main instrument rather than the keyboards. Riffs are not just there because they need to be, but drive the album and are often aggressive fast paced affairs. It’s metal as it should be, basically. It may seem at times with other symphonic metal bands that they forget what it means to be a metal band. No such worries here, Pythia have all the credentials they need completely covered, resulting in an album that takes the best of both worlds.

Now, just because I said there’s an extreme metal influence here, doesn’t mean you’re going to get yet another beauty and the beast vocal team. No growls to be found here, just the vocals of the excellent female vocalist Emily Alice Ovenden, who carries both the heaviest and most symphonic material on the album to the same high standard. And if you’re thinking that this sounds like a bad idea if they’re going to draw on extreme metal you needn’t, her voice suits every song of this album.

All songs on the album are of the highest quality. Better yet, they’re easy to tell apart. You’ve got the more intricate mini-epics like Cry of Our Nation and Our Forgotten Land, all out rockers like lead single Betray My Heart, real heavy beasts like Kissing the Knife and progressively inclined tracks like Dark Star. It’s an oddball of an album really, you know it’s a symphonic metal release, and yet it doesn’t play like one as you know it at all. The album is just shy of fifty minutes in length, but doesn’t feel like it at all. Like anything really good, it just flies by before you know it. Naturally reaching for the repeat button isn’t a bad idea.

Based on The Serpent’s Curse I think it’s very clear that Pythia is leading the charge of a new breed of symphonic metal bands and if they and others like them can keep up the sort of quality on display here then maybe symphonic metal will soon become much less of a joke to the true metal elite, not to mention get it out of the beauty and the beat rut. For generally pushing the boat out and making what may just be the most unique album of the genre for quite some time, Pythia deserves no less than a top tier score.

9.6/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Lost in the New Real is the second solo album to be released by Dutch multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen, although only the first to be released under his full name. His previous solo album, Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy, was released as simply Anthony in 1994. Although it’s been eighteen years between solo efforts, Lucassen has in that time made quite a name for himself within the progressive rock and metal genres with his many projects, including (most notably) Ayreon, Star One, and Guilt Machine. Like several of the Ayreon albums Lost in the New Real is a double disc effort. The fist disc contains the main album concept, while the second includes a 50/50 split of songs that didn’t quite fit into the main album and a selection of covers; the tracks being originally by Pink Floyd, Blue Öyster Cult, Led Zeppelin, The Alan Parsons Project and Frank Zappa.

Musically Lost in the New Real plays very much like an Ayreon album, highlighting Arjen Lucassen’s many influences. More accurately placing it closest to Into the Electric Castle wouldn’t be wrong because the album features heavy use of narration, performed by actor Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner). The big difference is that, as a solo album, there isn’t a host of guest vocalists and a huge cast of characters. Arjen sings all lead vocal himself in character as Mr. L (presumably the same fictional version of himself that appeared as a character in Ayreon’s 01011001). Rutger Hauer adopts the character of Voight Kampff, Mr. L’s psychological advisor. The story has ties to the Ayreon story, most evident by the presence of a Dream Sequencer on the artwork, but is its own tale.

Lost in the New Real is most definitely an eclectic album. As usual with Lucassen’s work the core style is progressive music but it very much sways between being based in rock, metal and other styles, most notably folk, although you’ll also find touches of psychedelic and symphonic sounds. The first of the discs, the main album, is all things considered mostly metal dominant, although it’s impossible to put a single accurate tag on an album such as Lost in the New Real without inventing something new and specific just for it. Lucassenism would be appropriate in that case. It’s clearly mostly a metal effort on the first disc though with two clear metal tracks in Parental Procreation Permit and Yellowstone Memorial Day, with metal appearing prominently in both The New Real and Lost in the New Real, as well as in some lesser degrees in a few of the other songs. A couple of tracks on the other hand are very much folk based, in different ways but both When I'm A Hundred Sixty-Four and Where Pigs Fly fit this side of Lucassen’s style, and although described as power pop in the album’s trailer Dr Slumber's Eternity Home has a main melody that isn’t hard to imagine in a folk context. E-Police is distinctly an upbeat styled rocking track and Pink Beatles in a Purple Zeppelin is a psychedelic track that brings mind to Day Seven: Hope (aka Come Back to Me) from Ayreon’s The Human Equation. The rest of made up of progressive pieces but honestly the most progressive thing about the album as a whole is its genre hopping aspect. It many ways the album is very typically Lucassen, but I don’t think his fans would expect any less. Ultimately despite being a metal dominant disc it isn’t really a metal album; overall it’s Lucassen’s least metal release since Ayreon’s The Dream Sequencer. But as I said, putting a single definite tag on this is impossible.

The second disc is much less metal based. Perhaps ironically it’s usually the selection of covers that contain the most metal orientated parts, especially the Pink Floyd cover Welcome to the Machine. Overall this disc highlights progressive rock first and foremost although as with the main album, you can expect a nice variety of sounds on offer. Of course as with any good music genre is ultimately irrelevant. No matter what style Arjen turns to during Lost in the New Real he maintains the high level of quality.

Since Arjen Lucassen isn’t most known as a singer I think it’s definitely worth giving over a paragraph dedicated just to his vocals in this review. Arjen is easily his own biggest critic when it comes to vocals so it’s definitely a brave move to get a record where he’s unashamedly the lead vocalist. Lucassen will never be a full out metal singer of the calibre of your Bruce Dickinson’s or your Russell Allen’s or but he does know his own material, and sings the whole of Lost in the New Real with the same conviction as any established vocalist. The fact that there are a lot of non-metal parts compared to Lucassen’s other works helps, because he has a voice much more suited to the prog rock, folk and psychedelic styles than the metal, though he does do that pretty well all the same. There are some guest vocalists here, but neither of them feature very prominently. Wilmer Waarbroek provides backing vocals throughout while there are female vocals by Elvya Dulcimer in the Led Zeppelin cover Battle of Evermore. There’s a growl at the end of Parental Procreation Permit as well, which I have to presume is Arjen, since it doesn’t say different in the album booklet, although I didn’t really expect him to come out with this vocal style even for one line, but hey, stranger things have happened. I can’t fault Arjen’s vocal performance, hopefully after this he’ll get as much recognition as vocalist as he gets as a musician and composer.

And, as with his back catalogue, Lost in the New Real is an excellent testament to Lucassen’s abilities as a composer. I said the album was eclectic but the amount of styles thrown into the one record is just sensational, especially the in the title track, the amount of different moods in that one is unlike anything I’ve ever heard, even from Arjen. The tracks of the main album flow together flawlessly through the use of Rutger Hauer’s narration, making the first disc feel like one long song. That’s a feeling that is heightened through the way the title track reprises the ideas of both The New Real and Don’t Switch Me Off. I haven’t heard many albums where narration didn’t ultimately hinder the overall experience though. Into the Electric Castle was one of the exceptions. So, I’m please to say, is this.

Although the story presented is somewhat dark in nature – a man, Mr. L, died in the twenty-first century and was cryopreserved and revived in a distant future where he finds himself in a world that has changed a lot to the point that one cannot tell what is real and what is not – it is also somewhat comedic. Tracks like Where Pigs Fly can’t help but bring a smile to my face with narration/lyrics like “what quantum mindfuck is that?”, “E.T. dialled the wrong number”, “Alice was known as Vincent”, “Arnold never came back” and “Keith drank only juice” get me every time. You shouldn’t be surprised to recognise the references either, the song is full of them, all being alternate versions of actual reality. Elsewhere there are more humorous lyrics such as in Pink Beatles in a Purple Zeppelin, which I’m convinced is a reference to PINK Floyd, The BEATLES, (in a) Deep PURPLE and Led ZEPPELIN. There’s also a song about the Internet piracy (E-Police) of the now, which manages to lighten the generally dark mood of the album, which is evident in the lyrics of tracks such as The New Real, Don’t Switch Me Off and Parental Procreation Permit.

The first disc of the album is absolutely sensational. I wouldn’t hesitate to give full marks to this part of the album, although it does have its clear highlights, such as The New Real, Where Pigs Fly, Pink Beatles In A Purple Zeppelin and Dr Slumber's Eternity Home. However there is a second disc to consider. Here we have tracks that are covers or didn’t fit into the main album but are still a part of the ‘New Real’. It’s safe to say that this disc isn’t as easy to get into as the first, although I’m tempted to put that down to the first disc being such a masterpiece that it’s difficult to get out of your head in order to give the second a proper chance. This was my experience in any case. After a few listens though I came to properly appreciate disc two. While I wouldn’t say it has quite the same spark as disc one, I miss Rutger Hauer’s narration (I never thought I’d say that about an album with narration) and the covers are (mostly) just that – covers, I think it does keep the same quality level. I think Arjen made some good choices for covers though and I wouldn’t say any of them are out of context with the theme, but the original compositions from both discs outshine them every time. Highlights from the second disc would be Our Imperfect Race, So Is There No God?, The Social Recluse and The Space Hotel. That’s all but one of Arjen’s originals, however I would also include the cover of Some Other Time as a highlight, especially vocally.

But honestly Lost in the New Real is worth buying for the first disc alone. Arjen has shown once again that he ranks among the best of the best and with yet another masterpiece under his belt it looks like there really is no stopping this guy. From Ayreon to Guilt Machine to Star One to a solo album, the quality level of his work over the last few years has never gone below exceptional. I don’t know where he’ll be going next, but precedent says it won’t matter – whether it’s a rock opera with Ayreon, a full out metal assault with Star One, or all over the place progressive work like Lost in the New Real, it will be one of the best albums of its year, as Lost in the New Real certainly is for 2012. Not only is it amazing, but I also think you’ll struggle to find a more versatile release this year. Get it now, especially if you’ve enjoyed Arjen’s previous albums, this one has everything, like all his other projects come full circle.

9.9/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Circus Black is the fourth full-length album from Finnish symphonic metal/neo-classical power metal act Amberian Dawn. The release features guest appearances from Stratovarius members Timo Kotipelto (on Cold Kiss) and Jens Johansson (on Crimson Flower). The album was released in 2012, making this the band’s longest break between studio albums, their last being 2010’s End of Eden, which I saw as their weakest album so far, something I personally put down to following an album-per-year cycle that ultimately resulted in a patchy release that contained both some of their best but also some of their weakest tracks. They’ve left it a bit longer between albums this time and thankfully Circus Black sees the band returning to the form of their first two albums River of Tuoni (2008) and The Clouds of Northland Thunder (2009).

In terms of style, nothing has really changed for Amberian Dawn. They still mix symphonic metal with neo-classical power metal, though perhaps not to the exact same extents as their earliest material. All that sets Circus Black above End of Eden is that the writing is more consistent throughout. There are no dud tracks as in the previous album. That’s satisfying for a fan of their past material, but with four releases under their belt I’d have liked the band to develop their sound a lot more than they have been doing by this point. I love Amberian Dawn’s sound, I really do, but even though it overall wasn’t as good, I can’t help feeling that End of Eden was actually a braver album than this one. Circus Black is as playing it safe as playing it safe gets. The lack of surprises is a double-edged sword, on one hand there’s nothing that will backfire on them as with End of Eden’s classical track Virvatulen Laulu, but there’s also nothing that breaks the band any new ground.

To elaborate further, I can’t really fault the songs on offer here for what they are. Circus Black is in all fairness a great album, and I’ll still grade it as such, but I can’t help feeling that the band could be so much more. Symphonic metal can be a very epic form of metal, but Amberian Dawn doesn’t seem prepared to exploit this to the best of their very apparent ability, instead favouring use of pretty standard song structures, most of which clock in with short durations (the longest here is 5:09). The band may flirt with some progressive ideas from time to time, as in The Rivalry Between Good And Evil, but imagine what they would be like if they went the whole hog and combined that and their strong symphonic sound with some longer tracks. They’d create something really special. It’s not that it isn’t epic at all, but it’s all mini-epics. The potential is all there but the tracks are over before it has much chance to get going. Even one or two compositions that pushed the boat out would have helped the album a lot.

This leaves me with concerns for Amberian Dawn’s continued viability within the symphonic metal genre. I remember when they first released their debut River of Tuoni in 2008, and thinking of them as a real contender to be among the genre’s finniest acts but since then they’ve done little to nothing to evolve their sound beyond just being a cut above most acts in the genre, and as much as I still like them, I can’t help feeling that they’re in danger of getting stale. Their next album could really make or break them.

But credit where credit is due it’s also clear after four albums that Amberian Dawn has decided on their sound and it looks like at this stage everything they deliver in the future will just be Amberian Dawn being Amberian Dawn, kind of like a new Motörhead album is Motörhead being Motörhead. That’s fine to a point, if you’re good at what you do and Amberian Dawn definitely are then there’s no shame in that, but at the same time I can’t really justify a score any higher than what I’m giving Circus Black in this review, and in some ways I feel over generous with this.

8.0/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Requiem for the Indifferent is the sixth album from Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. It’s been a few years since they last released an album and I have to be honest, Requiem for the Indifferent always stood as my most anticipated symphonic metal release of 2012. Their last few works easily stand as testament to the band’s credentials as one of the genre’s finist acts. The album was unfortunately released with its final song, Serenade of Self-Destruction, missing the vocal tracks due to an error. Nuclear Blast has released this song as a free download for the time being but hopefully future pressings of physical copies will contain the correct track.

Requiem for the Indifferent continues the natural progression of Epica’s sound that has been in evident throughout their career, but especially since the release of The Divine Conspiracy (2007), and by extension Mark Jansen’s newer group MaYaN’s debut album Quarterpast (2011). I’d say that the album can be quite fairly considered just as much to do with progressive metal now as it can symphonic metal. While they’ve had prog leanings for a while, perhaps most evident in previous album Design Your Universe’s (2009) epic centrepiece Kingdom of Heaven, here they’re no longer in the shadows; very much out in the open. Epica produced a couple of symphonic metal masterpieces with their last couple of albums as far as I’m concerned, Design Your Universe especially, but the song they’re producing here is definitely what I’ve been waiting to hear from them.

It’s typical then that Requiem for the Indifferent seems hell-bent on blowing up in their collective face. From the error affecting Serenade of Self-Destruction to the generally poor production job by Sascha Paeth there seems to be something around every corner that will hold the album back. The former I can overlook since it isn’t the band’s fault. It isn’t something that should be allowed to happen but I can overlook it all the same. The latter however is a kick in the teeth to say the least, especially since based on the actual songs this is another high quality Epica release. Maybe not overall on quite the same level of quality as their last two, but I’m still confident about its standing as an exceptional follow-up based on the songs here. The production is another matter. It’s not terrible as such but it doesn’t do the music any favours either. It just sounds...flat. The guitars are the worse effected. I’m used Epica producing a powerful and heavy symphonic metal sound, and this is very weak in comparison. What’s most surprising is that Sascha Paeth has done a fine job for them in the past. To be fair the production is a little up and down, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It all depends on the track and the context and direction of the music at the time.

The writing and the performance of the band members are the best redeeming factors you can get though. As I said, based on the material Epica has offered up this time I don’t think this album is quite as good as The Divine Conspiracy or Design Your Universe, but it certainly gives more than its fair share of tracks which can be considered to be among the band’s best. Among these highlights is perhaps surprisingly the lead single Storm the Sorrow. Precedent says the Epica single will be a more commercialised track than the rest of the album, and either growl free (Design Your Universe’s Unleashed) or near enough to not make much difference (The Divine Conspiracy’s Never Enough). Of course where this style of metal is concerned we’re still talking a bit more radio friendly than most but still Storm the Sorrow not only features a very prominent growling section but it’s really no more commercial than the average Epica track. Simone Simon’s vocals are what makes the track really special though. As usual she delivers perfectly throughout the album. Jansen’s growls are also on the mark; despite what some people may say about his vocals I think we’re talking one of the most powerful growlers in metal here. If the MaYaN debut, a symphonic death metal album, proved anything it was that Mark Jansen can carry an album as the lead vocalist just as well as Simone Simons. Together the two are the definitive beauty and the beast vocal team.

Other early highlights include Monopoly on Truth, Internal Warfare, and the title track, which includes some eastern folksy sounds. That’s pretty much the entire first half of the album except ballad Delirium, which is a nice enough track that highlights Simone’s vocals but as with any metal album the band would be doing something wrong if this was the track you were most interested in. Monopoly on Truth, Internal Warfare, and the title track showcase Epica’s more pronounced progressive metal approach, especially the latter two.

The structure of the release is typical Epica: intro, few tracks, interlude, and then rest of the tracks. Actually the structure is more or less identical to Design Your Universe including the positioning of the two epics and why not? It worked well enough for them last time and if it weren’t for the letdown of a production I’m sure it would do the same here. I have to be honest, because of the material and performance standard I’m still happily giving Requiem for the Indifferent a very high end score, but I have to consider the issues the album has so as much as I’d like things to be different my rating can’t be as high as what I previously gave The Divine Conspiracy (9.6) and Design Your Universe (10.0).

After the interlude, Anima, the pace gets going again with Guilty Demeanor. This one’s another shining example of Simone’s vocal abilities. I’d consider it a highlight for that reason alone. Also the production works a bit better here. The next track, Deep Water Horizon, is a little hit and miss though. Simone’s still on form and to be fair it really picks up about two thirds of the way through, but you have to wait a bit for the track to deliver the goods. Things are back on track with Stay the Course however, with more prog coming out of the woodwork. Honestly most of the album retains Design Your Universe’s top tier level of quality, but little blips like Deep Water Horizon are what holds it back a little. Not as much as the production, because for example I can’t help wondering how much more powerful a track like Deter the Tyrant would sound if those guitars had more bite to them, and if they were a bit more dominate in the mix. There’s a lot of going on with the guitars in this track, and it would be nice for some attention to be given to them. The production highlights the vocals but harms the instrumentation. That’s a shame, because what’s the point in actually bringing something really special to the symphonic metal table if you’re not going to flaunt it?

It’s ironic really, but I’ve spent my time earlier this year in other symphonic metal reviews I’ve done going on about how Epica is the best in the symphonic game right now and then they go and get outshined by a couple of other acts, namely Pythia and Xandria, especially Xandria. Still despite the production this ultimately isn’t an unsatisfactory release from Epica. With a couple of exceptions we’re talking exceptional to masterpiece levels of quality once again. If it weren’t for the production I’d now be giving it a grade pushing towards that top tier but although it doesn’t suffer so much that it drops out of the exceptional zone the score I ultimately have to give Requiem for the Indifferent is more towards the lower end of that scale. Personally speaking I do love this album, but there are some things that as a reviewer I can’t just overlook and that production is one of them. But anyway, if you’ve enjoyed their past works I see no reason not to like this one. Newcomers may wish to investigate Design Your Universe instead though, for no other reason than that production giving you the wrong impression.

8.7/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Elemental Tales is the third studio album from Russian folk/melodic death metal act Svartby. The 2012 release represents some changes for the band as it’s their first full-length to feature English lyrics rather than Swedish ones. The album was also recorded with half the main line-up as session musicians, including the lead vocalist. Only Giftsvamp (keyboards) and Lindwurm (guitars) remain from the line-up that recorded the group’s previous album Riv, Hugg och Bit (2009). The line-up has even changed since the release of Elemental Tales’ prior teaser release Scum from Underwater leaving the only full-time member other than those I already mentioned in the recording line-up being Humla (guitars). Although new full-time members have started being recruited post-recording of Elemental Tales the band is here joined by guests Sartre (vocals), Owl (bass) and RJoker' (drums).

I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect when coming to Elemental Tales. I haven’t encountered Svartby before this and on the surface the album looks to be another one of these folk acts that just don’t sit right with me, that is to say an act that forgoes use of traditional instruments and uses a synthesiser to replicate them, and songs about drinking or trolls. This isn’t the case, at least in regard to their lyrical content, even if they do favour the synth. Svartby doesn’t have a single song about trolls. I’d say their lyrics still fit almost the same vein, but Svartby prefers to create their own tales and creatures rather than treading the same ground covered by countless others before them. I usually prefer more serious folk metal, but I approve all the same. They actually make a point of distancing themselves from the whole troll thing, along with numerous other things such as the terms ‘Pagan’ and ‘Viking’. I definitely approve, seeing as I think both of those terms are as ambiguous as you can get when discussing styles of metal music. Although Svartby is one of these bands that prefers to use their own unique term to describe their music, Svartcore in this case, they also put forth ‘brutal folk metal’. And that ladies and gentlemen is pretty damn accurate.

As I mentioned, Svartby favours the synthesiser to create their melodies. Its folk acts like this I normally don’t like and in most I’d probably consider this cheap and synthetic but when you get an act such as Svartby whose folk side is really very much secondary to their metal then it just doesn’t matter so much. Svartby’s sound here is more about the riffs, and they know how to deliver a good riff. Their music may appear goofy on the surface (though you can’t deny the coolness of the designs of those elementals on this albums artwork), but it’s as intense and indeed brutal as melodeath gets. It’s solid and in your face death metal first and foremost, although the folksy melodies are very noticeable as well and it’s undeniable that Elemental Tales is very much a folk metal as well. The folk melodies are really what adds the ‘melodic’ into this brand of melodic death metal rather than lead guitar melodies and leads.

Elemental Tales isn’t a very long album, not much over half an hour, but that’s okay for this kind of music I think. It comes, knocks you for six and then leaves you wondering what the hell just happened (in a good way of course). It’s then that you realise that you’re going to need to listen to this again. And again. And again. You get the picture. I’d say that’s because there’s a lot more depth to this music than just a death metal thrashing away with some folk melodies going on in the background, because those folk melodies are nearly always top quality, which is something that becomes especially apparent in the more mid-paced tracks, and the songs all pack serious punch. While there’s probably no denying that melodies of this quality would sound even more awesome delivered with traditional instruments I have to respect that wasn’t the sort of thing Svartby intended to go for. In fact this band may be the one case where the impact of their music may have been diminished if they’d gone down that route, as it may have distracted from the true intent here; to have been to create a furious death metal assault and on that count, the album is very much a success.

8.2/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 The Beauty of Chaos is the fifth album by Polish act Eternal Deformity. The 2012 album is my first encounter with them, and it’s also their first release since 2007’s Frozen Circus. Although what I’ve read about the band would have me believe I should be expecting some kind of avant-garde hybrid of doom and melodic death metal, this isn’t really the case on The Beauty of Chaos. The melodic death part is certainly true enough, but it’s spiced with more progressive flavours than it is avant-garde, and I don’t detect anything to do with doom metal about the release. It does however draw on symphonic sounds a fair bit.

But misconceptions aside, Eternal Deformity creates an interesting sound on The Beauty of Chaos. The arrangements of the tracks are interesting and complex with symphonic keyboards used to effect with the guitars without being overbearing and there is progressive implementation aplenty. The songs are generally over the six minute mark with the exception of the first two, the very first of which is an intro. Drawn out instrumental passages are to be expected. Additionally the group uses three distinct vocal styles, done between two vocalists, so expect clean vocals along with both high and low growling. The low growls put me firmly in mind with death metal while the high growls wouldn’t sound out of place in a number of styles. The clean vocals are technically the weakest of the three styles but fit with the group’s music well enough, creating a kind of melancholic sound that works to especially great effect during the lighter sections of Eternal Deformity’s music. Overall it’s quite the atmospheric experience, heavy, yet without an in your face level of intensity and always melodic.

Compositionally we’re talking something pretty interesting. The Beauty of Chaos is one of those albums that grabbed me right from the off and refused to let go after that. While I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s an album where all songs can be considered highlights in their own right, it maintains a consistently high level of quality with the odd track pushing their boundaries right up to the highest levels. The earliest example of them doing just that is the track Lifeless but distinction of being a standout can also be applied to Caught Out Lying and the epic closer The Holy Decay. With the exception of the intro track, although it is better than most, The Beauty of Chaos is highly enjoyable from start to finish.

The Beauty of Chaos is an excellent album that I’m sure will have a pretty wide appeal among metal fans. Their mix of influences from three styles blends together in such a natural way that I find it impossible not to get drawn in. Overall it’s about borderline between being great and exceptional, but I think an exceptional rating is just about deserved.

8.5/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 With Epica getting bigger and bigger and the likes of Nightwish and Within Temptation alienating their long-standing fans more and more with each release it makes sense that the newer breed of female-fronted symphonic metal acts will be taking their cues more from Epica’s style of beauty and the beast symphonic metal than the longer standing big guns. Diabulus in Musica is a young Spanish act and The Wanderer is their second full-length, which they released in 2012. They’ve a very much textbook case of being in the same vein as Epica (they even have Mark Jansen as a guest on the album). I think that at this stage in their career Epica can’t be beaten at their own game, but Diabulus in Musica showcased how to be like Epica in the right way, that is to say by taking the core of the beauty and the beast approach (although in Diabulus in Musica’s case it’s actually beauty and the beasts, the group has two growlers) and adding their own flair to it.

Although classifiable as symphonic metal as a whole, The Wanderer also draws on various other styles, including gothic metal, death metal and power metal. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Fortunately although their ingredients are pretty much the same, Diabulus in Musica managed to pull off an album that will sit comfortable with Epica’s music, without being a clone of said band. A main reason for that is that Diabulus in Musica aren’t afraid to release songs which see their female singer absent or at least less prominent and focus on growling vocals, such as Shadow of the Throne. Epica only did this as a bonus track. Tracks like this aren’t common, but the symphonic death metal style of them certainly gives the album an additional edge, which is in contrast to some of their others songs, which only use female vocals and just like the longer running acts in the game come across as rather commercial, especially Sceneries of Hope, the song they made a video for. I find that I like Diabulus in Musica’s sound regardless of whether they’re just using female vocals, growls, or a mix of both, although I have to say that Sceneries of Hope is my least favourite track from the album, mainly because I dislike the more electronic sounding keyboards used here. They seem out of place compared to the direction the rest of the album takes. Since this was the first song from Diabulus in Musica I heard I didn’t get the very best first impressions, but fortunately the rest of the album sets a much higher standard throughout.

Another difference from Epica is the amount of folk in the release. Not folk metal, but actual folk music parts that crop up during songs while the metal takes the backseat. Folk metal cropping up in symphonic metal acts is getting common, but Diabulus in Musica do things a little difference with this approach of only using folk where they don’t want any metal. The closing title track is the best example of the band’s folk side, a beautiful ballad driven by the acoustic guitar with sprinklings of folk melody and stunning vocals from Zuberoa Aznárez, who shines throughout the whole release. Really, as with most beauty and the beast acts the beast side of the vocal team isn’t really needed with a singer of this calibre, but at least in Diabulus in Musica’s case Zuberoa isn’t held back by unneeded growling vocals. All vocals are used to best effect in this release.

All in all I have to say this is a great album. Although the similarities to Epica and acts in that vein are numerous what we have here is a band who show all the potential they need to become an integral part of that crowd of acts. I’d say that The Wanderer is very much a highly recommended purchase for fans of the style. It doesn’t come across as being anything more that great for me, we’re not talking a masterpiece here but with The Wanderer Diabulus in Musica did deliver an album that does everything I expect of the symphonic metal style, and in all honesty even if it’s not a masterpiece, a great album is not to be sniffed at. Also although the whole beauty and the beats thing is getting a bit old due to vast overuse, Diabulus in Musica proved with The Wanderer that it’s still possible to pull it off without sounding stale.

8.4/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 French avant-garde metal act Akphaezya’s Anthology IV (The Tragedy of Nerak) is not, as the name may suggest to the unaware, neither an anthology release nor the band’s fourth album, but actually their second studio album. They started with Anthology II: Links from the Dead Trinity which was released back in 2008, and five parts are planned, intentionally being released out of order. Anthology IV is released in 2012 and is written in the manner of a classic Greek Tragedy. The album features a format of four Acts, each named after the seasons, bookended by a prologue and epilogue track, and an interlude right in the middle of it all.

First off I have to say that the intro track, Πρόλογος / Prologos, is next to useless. It’s just another one of those cliché tracks that doesn’t even last a full minute with little happening to justify its presence in the album. It’s only there really to have something as a lead in to the first proper track but really what is the point, so little happens here that the track may as well not exist. Επίλογος / Epilogo is not any better, although the interlude track, Transe H.L. 2, fits into the album really well. Fortunately the actual songs, starting with Act I: Spring, Scene I : A Slow Vertigo... (which is a much better way to kick off Anthology IV), are most definitely worthy of high praise. Any and all criticism I have for Anthology IV ends here.

Musically what we’ve got here may be considered as much in line with progressive metal than the avant-garde metal this is promoted as, as we only come into full blown avant-garde weirdness with Act II: Summer, Scene I : Utopia, although there’s definitely strong traces of it throughout, it’s only really in your face in this track and again in Act IV: Winter, Scene I : Nemesis later on. There are most certainly lots of different influences from all around the musical spectrum going into Akphaezya’s music though. Just calling it progressive or even avant-garde is generalising to the extreme. If you’re a fan of metal bands that include anything and everything in their sound then Anthology IV is definitely an album worth investigating. I guess the amount of jazz parts is the most notable of Akphaezya’s forays into other styles. They do the jazz stuff really well in my opinion, conjuring up an excellent atmosphere in the process.

A female-fronted act, Nehl Aëlin’s vocals are generally pleasant sounding and at it isn’t hard to imagine her voice working in context with a more simplistic style of music, but she’s also very capable of throwing some quirky tones in there when the music behind her demands it. Less often she also throws some growling into the mix. She’s pretty good at that too. Although I enjoy the music on the album quite a lot, I really have to praise Aëlin’s vocals in their own special mention here, as the amount of tones this girl comes out with give the record a real special feel to it.

With those intro and outro tracks aside, I really enjoyed Anthology IV (The Tragedy of Nerak). The album took me more than a couple of listens to get into, but once I was in the zone the flow of the album quickly became apparent and with every listen given to the album it got better and better to the point that I’ve eventually come to regard it as something really exceptional, whereas my initial reactions were along the ‘good but not great’ lines. It’s a grower for sure, one that I’m not going to hesitate to highly recommend to the more adventurous metalhead, or perhaps even to the adventurous general music fan, since this music goes well beyond just being confined to the metal genre. In any case I think that Anthology IV (The Tragedy of Nerak) is an excellent second release from Akphaezya that represents a clear contended for progressive/avant-garde album of the year.

9.2/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Twilights of Sand is the ninth studio album from Italian power metal band Skylark. The 2012 album marks the band’s first studio album to be released since 2007’s Divine Gates Part 3: The Last Gate. It’s also the first album to feature the vocals of new lead singer Ashley. Ashley is the group’s third lead singer, but only the second female singer, as the group was for a long time a male fronted act (and then a dual male/female fronted act, then finally just a female fronted act). Although I’ve been aware of Skylark for some time now, Twilights of Sand marks my first encounter with their music.

Based on this album, it may also be my last. That’s not to say that overall the album lacks anything to be praised, it does have a few positive aspects to it but the problem here is that nothing seems to be coming together very well on any level. First off the album gets off on completely the wrong foot with the symphonic introductory track The Tears of Jupiter. As far as intros go it isn’t too bad, with a mix of spoken words and actual singing, so it does have a bit more effort put into it than most intro tracks. The problem with it is not that it feels so introductory, as far as those go it has credibility, but because the symphonic sound does nothing for me. It sounds synthetic, in that it’s there because it can be there, sort of thing. There’s nothing epic about it in the slightest.

But enough about a track that doesn’t even last two minutes. The next track, Tobe! Glendizer, only makes matters worse. I’m not sure what language this is in, and I’m not even convinced it’s not a load of nonsense, even sticking lines of the lyrics in Google Translate didn’t provide much clue, coming up with a different language for each line. Regardless it’s not the lyrics that bother me here, it’s that the whole track sounds utterly ridiculous. It reminds me more of some daft sing-along song in a little children’s TV show. You know the sort, no matter if you have kids yourself or just remember them for your own childhood, it’s the sort that will drive the parents up the wall. That’s what this song sounds like, only it has a power metal riff going on through it. Since they included a version of the track especially designed for karaoke as a bonus track on the Japanese version of the album I’m not sure that wasn’t the intent. The track is in no way entertaining and it’s not even power metal cheese in a good way. It is the worst track I’ve heard for some time though. I guess that’s a (dubious) achievement of its own. Unfortunately although this is definitely the most prominent case, I also get the whole children’s music vibes off of some of the other songs on the album, although in those cases it’s more the case of the vocal tone and more use of those synthetic keys.

Fortunately for the band and my ears things pick up with Twilights of Sand’s third track, The Princess and Belzebu. Not by much, but at least enough to save my sanity. Up to this point Twilights of Sand hasn’t given the listener much of a real experience about what it’s about; that only really starts here, and what we’re dealing with is keyboard driven Euro power metal. Now I’m a fan of the power metal genre, and I’ll defend it when it gets insulted as it often does from supposed metalheads who don’t have a clue what they’re talking about, but Twilights of Sand is one of those albums that quite legitimately gives the genre a bad name.

What we’re talking here is not something that is typical cheesy power metal, because it’s really not cheesy sounding at all, it’s because the sound the band puts across is not working. First off the production job is pretty bad, which lets the material that is stronger down a fair bit, and although she had a decent voice, there are many moments on the album where it doesn’t sound as if Ashley has a voice that is cut out for metal. Some of the tones she comes out with sound like something I expect to hear in a commercial pop song, which is especially apparent in the non-metal parts of the album. I reiterate that she does have a good voice, and when her singing does work with the material it works really well, but more often than not the vocals and the music just seem out of sorts with each other. The only actual criticism I have for her actual vocals though is when she tries to hit the high notes. It’s very clear listening to those that she doesn’t quite have that range, and it shows.

That coupled with how patchy the actual material is makes the album something of a drag to get through. Its highlights stand out well because of this, but there’s nothing on offer that moves beyond merely good territory. I’d say Love Song is the best song here and She and Mystery of the Night are also pretty good but in general the album ranges from above average to very bad. Some of the tracks are just too long and outstay their welcome. But the biggest problem with this album is that it’s generally boring. The good moments are too few and far between to save it. After those first two tracks have gone by there isn’t anything offensively bad but at the same time the lack of real moments of epic awesomeness even in a cheesy way is what makes Twilights of Sand a really lacking album for power metal.

I haven’t heard much power metal from this year yet, but I’m sure that there are going to be a lot of stronger offers in the field that do the genre justice. I’d say for Twilights of Sand however a below average/fans only rating is most appropriate.

3.9/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 The Art of Metal is the second studio album from Swedish all female metal band Hysterica. Although originally slated to be released in October 2011 following a ‘one single a month’ build up that began in April 2011 the singles stopped coming after the fourth (of seven) and the album never actually got released until March 2012, almost a year since the first single, Force of Metal, saw its digital release. While it’s definitely a good thing that the singles stopped coming, if they hadn’t we’d ultimately only got three tracks we hadn’t heard before by the time of the album arrived, it’s also definitely been an tantalising wait for The Art of Metal to finally hit the shelves. Seven of the songs on the album have a piece of associated artwork with it, hence why the album is titled The Art of Metal.

As suggested by the four singles (Force of Metal, Message from the Dark, Heels of Steel & Fighters of the Century) the wait is very much worth it. There were a couple of issues I took with the band’s already pretty darn good debut album Metalwar (2009), mainly a disappointingly low amount of really noteworthy guitar parts, and overall it was lyrically a very cheesy release. Both these issues have been addressed on The Art of Metal. While some of the lyrics are still a bit cheesy, Force of Metal especially, we’ve got a much more mature brand of song writing overall from the girls. The instrumentation is much improved on all counts as well. There are actually some changes in this department of the band, as guitarist RockZilla left the band in 2009. Rather than replace her Hysterica has instead brought in Marydeath, a keyboardist. This isn’t as radical a change as it sounds, as Marydeath isn’t the band’s first keyboardist. A pre-Metalwar incarnation of the band had a keyboardist called Electra, who was with the band for their 2006 demo. Compared to Metalwar however, the keyboards offer a more modern heavy metal sound, with only a brief excursion into symphonic metal territory during Spirit of the Age. Otherwise the keys flesh out Hysterica’s sound into something that is a much more polished version on Metalwar’s approach.

There are some musical surprises to be found though. Message from the Dark is much longer than any of the band’s previous songs, and everything else on the album as well, clocking in at just over seven minutes. It’s also a more laid back affair that features some really emotive guitar playing from remaining guitarist Bitchie, and the slow tempo lends it something of a faint doom metal feel to it. Although I love the whole album I have say that it’s this song that is the album’s crowning achievement on all levels. Other parts of the album lean more towards the power metal genre, especially the closer Daughters of the Night, but there are parts pushing towards the style throughout the release. Since there can be a fine line between heavy and power metal this isn’t really as noteworthy as their drawing sounds from other styles, which is why we now have to move on to the biggest difference compared to Metalwar, the vocals.

On Metalwar lead singer Anni De Vil proved herself a more than capable vocalist for the band, but on The Art of Metal she really shines. Her style however has changed to include a lot more death growling though. While Metalwar had a few brief moments of harsh vocals dotted about the tracks there was never any doubt that you were listening to a traditional heavy metal album. While I’d still say that The Art of Metal is a heavy metal album, most of the music behind Anni is definitely within this vein, I struggle to bring myself to call it heavy metal in the ‘traditional’ sense, as there’s far too much death growling going on for that. I guess despite the instrumentation that The Art of Metal could perhaps be considered something of a heavy metal and melodic death metal hybrid, although really the only thing remotely death metal about this is those growling vocals, and those are most definitely in the death metal vein. It’s a tricky game labelling genres at times, but I do like it when an album comes along that pushes the boundaries of a style, which The Art of Metal certainly does. Anni is just as capable at growling as she is singing cleanly though, so I’m not at all opposed to the use of so much growling on the album. Actually this is one of the few cases where growls in a heavy or power metal environment actually work and don’t make me think the band should leave such things to the extreme metal acts. In the same breath I can’t say I’d like the album any less if Anni stuck to her cleans, because she’s really sensational at those, but perhaps that’s testament to the strength of the material.

The one thing that hasn’t changed is that Hysterica still produces the kind of metal music that is energetic and about having a damn good time, and with The Art of Metal the band are doing that better than ever before. With all issues with their previous material remedied there’s no reason not to award Hysterica with a top tier score for The Art of Metal, even if the music isn’t the most complex or as groundbreaking as it could be. Of course with an album such as this there’s always a chance that once you’ve given it several listens it doesn’t seem to be as exceptional as it may have originally seemed (this happened with Metalwar for me), so I’ve given The Art of Metal many plays through, a full dozen actually plus my personal favourite songs on their own sometimes on top of that, before finalising this review, and tell you what, the album sounds just as strong now as it did on my first listen. Being hooked on this album doesn’t even begin to cover it. Here Hysterica finds just the right balance between homage to the heavy metal they clearly love and song writing that you can sink your teeth into and take seriously. The album comes very highly recommended!

9.8/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 13 is the debut studio album from Russian act Vismut. The band plays a style of metalcore that is at times progressive or symphonic but also draws on electronic elements on occasion. While I don’t think either of these plays a major part in Vismut’s sound, they do help to flavour the band’s metalcore sound a bit beyond the norms of the genre without becoming overly dominating, something I feel is a turn-off for fans of extreme music in the case of the electronic stuff, although I do think these elements are used tastefully on 13.

Now before I begin I want to say that I don’t make a secret that I think metalcore is one style of metal that quickly got stale, at least among the bigger names in the genre. I find it difficult to encounter bands with much of an identity of their own. Most of the time if you stuck a metalcore band on and didn’t tell me who it was I probably couldn’t tell you even if it was one of the really known names. They may as well be the same band playing the same song for the amount of similar screaming vocals and guitar breakdowns I hear. In Vismut’s case they could easily fall into this category as well, since they have these elements in abundance as much as any other, but they at least go a bit further with some occasional progressive twists and electronic elements to keep their music from falling to that level of boredom.

That said I do find Vismut’s debut to be a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand they’ve produced some interesting enough music, with some real surprises within the tracks, especially the ballad Не нужно ничего, but it also contains several issues within the overall sound. The most prominent of these is the tendency to every so often make it sound as if the music is skipping, which is just plain annoying, no way to put it nicely. I’m also not fond of the clean vocals used within the album. While not a bad case of singing at all I’ve ultimately got to consider that these vocals are being used in a metal context, and they just don’t fit in Vismut’s music. One minute there’s some much more than above average harsh vocals and then the clean vocals start and time after time it kills Vismut’s music dead in the water. The same sadly can be said of other bands within the style, so Vismut is hardly alone in this sense. These are the sort of vocals I’d expect to hear more in pop punk or mainstream indie rock acts than in any kind of metal. To be honest it’s usually the vocals that make me dislike most metalcore. What can I say, I want my clean vocals in metal to be well...metal, if you know what I mean. I’m not going to hold this choice against Vismut, they seem to be following what is expected of their style and that’s fair enough, however their music proves time and time again that this is a band that generally has something going for them, and I’d like to hear it taken to the next level.

There are more positive things than negative ones about 13 though. Clean vocals aside the band is a tight unit, and although I’m not the biggest metalcore fan in the world 13 was a very listenable experience. There are great riffs present in the album and there are some songs I’d saying are pushing towards the high grade, but I’d be lying if I said they didn’t a have a fair way to go before I’d be really impressed with what Vismut is doing. I can’t however deny that unlike most metalcore I didn’t feel the need to switch this album off after a couple of tracks. The issues I outlined above are a major hindrance to my overall enjoyment of 13 though so I can’t justify giving it higher than an above average score at best. Without the irritating skipping sounds I may have bumped my score up a notch despite my issues with the clean vocals. But for now Vismut is producing a good sound, just one with some bugs to be ironed out. I’d recommend metalcore fans to check them out definitely, since a metalcore fan will likely have more appreciation for the clean vocals than I did. Outside of the genre’s fanbase 13 may have a bit more appeal than most, but ultimately I don’t see this converting many non-metalcore fans to the style. Prog fans may find something to like though.

6.3/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Pneuma is the debut studio album from Greek duo Hail Spirit Noir. The two members of the band are Theoharis on vocals and guitars and Haris on synths, while the bass and drums are handled by session musicians Dim and Ioannis Giahoudis, along with additional vocals performed by Dimitris Dimitrakopoulos. Pneuma features six tracks of what is being branded in their press release as psychedelic progressive black metal. While I don’t really find the release to be so much progressive it’s most definitely a psychedelic experience, so much so that it often seems that the psychedelic stuff is the primary focus within the album, rather than the black metal, which in my experience is more of a rarity among so called progressive and avant-garde black metal acts, which seem to only add these additional elements to a core black metal sound. Here it’s like Hail Spirit Noir added black metal elements to a core psychedelic sound instead, so while the black metal is still an integral element in the Hail Spirit Noir sound it isn’t the main focus by a long shot.

Indeed apart from Theoharis’ very tortured sounding black metal rasp it takes until almost half way through the opening track Mountain of Horror before the actual music starts to take on a more direct black metal approach, and even then it’s still layered with the psychedelic elements. More so it’s not until third track Against the Curse, We Dream that the album delivers a track where the black metal is allowed to take the front seat. The synths are used to excellent effect in this regard and although it’s like two worlds colliding all the sound fit together nicely, giving Hail Spirit Noir a sound of the sort that you don’t hear very often, something that sounds unique.

What is probably the best thing about the band’s sound though is that despite the trimmings and use of clean vocals, it doesn’t lose the raw aspect associated with black metal so it even has potential to appeal to fans of the likes of Mayhem and Darkthrone so long as they keep an open-mind towards the album. The sound definitely isn’t over-polished in production values, especially where the guitars are concerned, and overall there’s quite a sinister atmosphere attached to the music, even in light sections featuring clean vocals, such as in the beginning of When All is Black. And yet it’s not so much a typical black metal production as much as it is just an intentionally retro one. I’d say that like the music itself the production values found here draw on the band’s psychedelic and progressive side more than the black metal, another reason why I don’t consider Pneuma to be primarily a black metal album.

Pneuma is quite the interesting trip and with it Hail Spirit Noir have set themselves a high standard to follow. The album is in possession of the sort of sound that if you dig it the album becomes an easy listen even during the near thirteen minute composition Into the Gates of Time, which also happens to be the best of the six tracks on offer and also unsurprisingly given its length, the most progressive. I’m also extra fond of Against the Curse, We Dream and Let Your Devil Come Inside but Pneuma is such an album that there are no dips in quality below being really great. Overall it’s actually very near masterpiece level, but there is a little room for improvement – although it’s still the best track, Into the Gates of Time does feature a bit of a drawn out section of what sounds like a load of crickets where nothing really happens until an acoustic guitar comes it over the noise, only to disappear again before the track’s conclusion and the noise continues up until the start of the closing Haire Pneuma Skoteino. I’m not really a fan of such things in any style of music, mainly because I’m never sure just what the artist is trying to achieve by including such ambient background noise when nothing else is going on, especially when it’s not building up to a hidden track as in Pneuma’s case. Fortunately this doesn’t last too long as the appearance of the acoustic helps to break it up, but I still could have done without this particular section.

Haire Pneuma Skoteino additionally doesn’t cut quite the same atmosphere as the rest of the album, if anything its main melody sounds just a little cheery in contrast to the dark and bleak sound heard previously, and although it has its moments of greatness it’s the only track on the album where the material drops below an exceptional level, although that’s mainly because as part of the whole album it feels like that piece of a jigsaw that you just can’t seem to fit in even though you know exactly where it’s supposed to go. Thinking about it as I write this maybe there was a reason for the way Into the Gates of Time ended, perhaps to prepare the listener for this little change of pace at the end of the album. I’m unsure on that one but either way although I do enjoy the track on its own Haire Pneuma Skoteino didn’t do as much for me as the preceding five tracks.

However ultimately I’m left feeling very positive about Pneuma. Despite the faults it does have they don’t take away too much from my enjoyment of the release overall and rating the album with less than an exceptional score would be doing it an injustice.

8.8/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Aeon is the second full-length album from Italian instrumental sludge/post-metal act Mondrian Oak. The album was released in 2012 and features seven tracks, all of which are named as simply 1 through to 7. Apart from 1 and 4 they’re all pretty long compositions, with 2 and 6 passing the ten minute mark.

The music we have here is heavy yet atmospheric. With no vocals at all the instruments are used to great effect in the place of a singer in order to give each of the seven tracks its own individual mood and the different sections are delivered emotively from each instrument. Although classable under post-metal with a sludge metal aspect to it I imagine that the release would also be at home with doom and drone metal albums, although there is a lot more going on than with much of the drone stuff I’ve heard, the music does often share some of the same qualities. 4 is a good example of that.

As with any instrumental release this is going to have a niche market but perhaps even more of a niche market than most since it is in no way a shred release as per Steve Vai, John Petrucci et al. There’s only one aspect to the music that I think is really going to be the selling point for it, and that’s its atmosphere, because what we’ve got here is something darkly haunting. Calling it a scary atmosphere wouldn’t be wrong either. In this sense the fact that it’s instrumental is irrelevant. I’d actually say the lack of vocals is to the complete benefit of this sort of music as it allows you to become totally engrossed in the atmosphere that Mondrian Oak has created.

All in all Aeon is an enjoyable release that comes recommendable to fans of post, sludge, doom and drone metal. I couldn’t listen to an album in this vein very often, but even so I think a high end rating is easily deserved as I think to metal fans more into these styles than I am will lap this one up. Mondrian Oak doesn’t appear to be very well known yet, but if this album is anything to go by that should change.

8.7/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 The Myth of Purity is the debut full-length from UK melodic death metal act Mortad. The act is female fronted and has drawn comparisons with Sweden’s Arch Enemy which after listening to the album I find to be valid at least vocally, since both the lady growlers have similar styles and tones. Mortad’s music however, while it could still be described as melodic death metal, doesn’t carry the typical Gothenburg sound. Still mentioning them in the same breath as Arch Enemy wouldn’t be wrong.

The Myth of Purity is a solid album, but there’s very little here which hasn’t been done before. That’s okay, what we’ve got here is a band that basically says ‘right let’s play some death metal’ and then delivers just that. Mortad may not break the mould with this one but the album does showcase that the musicians have the chops to deliver the style with conviction, and Somi Arian proves an extremely capable vocalist.

There is one slight hiccup in the flow of the otherwise strong experience in the form of the track I'm Not Interested in Being Interesting, which just wasn’t as good as the rest of the album, but other than that once they kick start things with All That's Born Must Be Destroyed we’re talking pretty much a powerhouse of an album that does contain the odd little surprise within its ten tracks, such as the use of a few symphonic elements during The Voice.

Ultimately I’m impressed with The Myth of Purity and although Mortad has a long way to go before I could consider what they’re doing to be of a masterful quality, this shows much promise. Keeping in mind those Arch Enemy comparisons Mortad doesn’t deliver anything here that Arch Enemy haven’t done better, but I’ve always felt that Arch Enemy has had an inconsistent career and while The Myth of Purity isn’t as good as Arch Enemy at their strongest it’s a better album than Arch Enemy at their weakest. I think fans of Arch Enemy and other melodeath acts will definitely enjoy this one.

7.3/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Neverworld's End is the fifth full-length album by German symphonic metal act Xandria. The 2012 album is the band’s first full-length to be released since 2007’s Salomé - the Seventh Veil and a lot has happened since then. For starters lead vocalist Lisa Middelhauve decided to leave the band to be replaced by Kerstin Bischoff, who in turn also left the band without recording with them, and Lisa returned to the fold in 2010 for live performances but never officially rejoined the band. Fronting the band now is Manuela Kraller, who has also been a member with Haggard. The rest of the Xandria line-up remains unchanged from the previous release but the sound of the band has received a substantial dose of power metal injected into it. Not to the point that their sound has moved into the same sort of symphonic power metal territory as what a band like Ancient Bards play that has more to do with the power metal genre than symphonic metal, but it comes pretty close to it.

This of course means that comparisons to Nightwish’s early material will be made, and they won’t be entirely unfounded, as there’s more than a couple of moments within Neverworld's End that bring mind to Nightwish circa Oceanborn and Wishmaster. But despite some undeniable similarities the album doesn’t come across as being a direct sound-alike, but rather the sort of album that complements those other high calibre releases of the symphonic metal genre, as that’s just what this is as well. It’s symphonic metal at its finest. We’ve got heavy guitars, fuelled by the speed of power metal, excellent use of the symphonic element to create an epic backdrop to the metal, and a flawless performance from Manuela Kraller that adds so much to the classical bombast of the sound, and in a couple of places there’s even a bit of folk thrown in for good measure, and also some surprising progressive twists. If I could only have one word to describe the album it would be ‘epic’.

Honestly I never expected to encounter a symphonic metal album in this particular vein of this sort of quality these days. It’s most definitely a genre that although I love has been feeling a bit stale, and even somewhat clichéd. Xandria impresses me immensely with Neverworld's End though. Here we have a symphonic metal band that of course is still more accessible than other metal genres such as thrash and death but doesn’t completely go into the sort of pop territory that Within Temptation do. Here we have a symphonic metal band that allows their stunning lead singer to shine without making her share the microphone with a death growler in beauty and the beast vocal style. Here we have a symphonic metal band that knows how to use their symphonic element to perfection, without allowing their riffs to take a backseat. Really there can be no high level of praise given to a symphonic metal album than what Neverworld's End deserves.

Also the album is highly consistent. There is no point in singling out any particularly tracks as highlights with an album like this because as soon as the album kicks off with A Prophecy Of Worlds To Fall what you’re getting is the same high level of material all the way through until the album ends with The Nomad's Crown. Even the slower balladry parts are as epic as the really intense and heavy stuff like Soulcrusher and don’t come over as cheesy in any way. Of course I have a few personal favourites, Soulcrusher being one of those, but Valentine, Call Of The Wind, Blood On My Hands and especially Cursed all really do something special for me.

At the end of 2011 I told myself that I should be more reserved with my review scores, but Xandria just blew that idea out of the water with Neverworld's End. The album is the perfection of a genre, and fully deserves the one score that can be associated with that. I was convinced that if any symphonic metal album of 2012 would be within this sort of level it would be Epica’s, which is due out very soon at the time of writing, but honestly Epica has already deliver a symphonic metal album of this sort of strength in Design Your Universe, so the chances of two on the trot are slim, and there’re going to have to pull something really exceptional out of the hat to top what Xandria just did. Neverworld's End comes recommended as an essential purchase. I haven’t reviewed many of this year’s albums yet, but this one is going straight to the top of my fledgling list and I can’t think of a single album due out this year that has a real chance of upsetting it.

10.0/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Helvetios is the fifth studio album from Swiss folk/melodic death metal act Eluveitie. Before I go into the album in detail, I want to apologise in advance for the generally negative vibe towards the band that this review is going to take. Normally criticising the decisions an artist makes in regard to what genre of music they play is not something I feel reviewers like myself are justified in bashing, at least when we’re talking about an artist who hasn’t changed their sound for the worse, but is sticking to their guns, but the fact of the matter is that Eluveitie totally flummox me in regard to the direction their music takes. It’s partly the way that they prove themselves exceptionally capable at making folk metal, but plaster it over with what is unfortunately pretty generic melodeath that does it, but even more flummoxing is how they can justify having such an exceptional vocalist in the band as Anna Murphy and not let her sing lead all the time. This is my biggest problem with the band. With just a little bit of re-jigging I think they could be something really special. But with the exception of an acoustic folk album, which in my opinion remains their best release, Eluveitie continually turns out music that more or less follows the same formula, one that as both a fan of folk metal and a reviewer makes me want to tear my hair out.

Somehow though Eluveitie have become one of the biggest names in the folk metal genre, so even though that’s just as flummoxing to me I guess they must be doing something right. Helvetios offers me no surprises in regard to the direction of the material though; the band is still producing their melodic death metal layered with Celtic folk instrumentation. The most praiseworthy thing I can say about the album is that it is at the very least a step in the right direction if this melodeath/folk metal hybrid is what we’re stuck with, as writing wise it’s much more solid material on offer than particularly their previous release Everything Remains as It Never Was. It doesn’t reach the masterpiece status that deep down I’m really longing to hear from this band, but it does give me hope than somewhere down the line we will finally be treated to such. For now however Helvetios still suffers from issues I’ve had with almost every Eluveitie release I’ve heard, with the exception of Evocation I – The Arcane Dominion, their folk album, which ironically as a non-metal release from a metal band, didn’t contain any of the issues I feel plague their ‘proper’ albums.

Now, I’ve not got anything against folk/melodeath hybrids, despite what the tone of this review may have suggested up until this point. Folk metal can get its metal side from pretty much anywhere within the metal spectrum and I think Eluveitie is very capable of making some absolutely killer songs in this vein, with perhaps the best and most known example of this being Inis Mona from their 2008 album Slania. The trouble is that these real gems of the style seem to be few and far between, and that’s mainly because vocalist Chrigel Glanzmann, who uses a growling vocal style to fit in with the band’s melodeath aspect, doesn’t really carry the songs to their full potential. His vocals work better on Helvetios in my opinion than on other releases, but I still feel it’s a lacking performance and that the songs would be better performed by Anna Murphy, who has a few vocal slots on the album, most notably in A Rose for Epona, the album’s best song. The trouble is when Anna does sing lead she very much shows Chrigel up, which was the same deal as on Evocation I where she actually did sing almost all the lead vocals. It’s ultimately a no-win situation. On a positive note the album was a much more enjoyable affair than I expected it would be but the major downside is ironically that when the band does flirt with the sort of sound I feel could make them really great it serves to highlight the issues I had on past Eluveitie releases all over again.

Despite my personal feelings though, at the end of the day I wouldn’t be doing my job as a reviewer if I didn’t make a point of the fact that when it comes down to it Helvetios is a good album. It many ways it’s pushing towards being a great one, but it is a little patchy. The first half of the album packs a bit more impact than what follows A Rose for Epona for example. That may be because as I already stated, this is the album’s apex in terms of overall quality, so naturally anything that follows can’t hold a candle to it and as it’s this point that overall faults have been highlighted on my first listen to the album I found I couldn’t listen to the material in quite the same light. This naturally carried over to subsequent listens of the album, so even the better half didn’t do quite as much for after that. Luxtos is another highlight of the album that I’d like to point out, and you probably won’t be surprised to hear that that it’s one of the songs featuring Anna’s vocals. It’s more a beauty and the beast style of vocal double team on this one, but even that works better than Chrigel on his own. Anna’s vocals really do make all the difference. She has power and charm and her voice just works with the folk sounds on so many levels.

While Helvetios doesn’t address any issues I’ve had with Eluveitie’s sound, and is very much an ‘as expected’ album at least on that sound front, it does at the very least make for an enjoyable enough listen, which is more than I can say for some of the group’s prior works. It’s the sort of album that would probably be okay for me if the band had produced considerably better already, and if we discount the acoustic album we’re actually left with Helvetios being within the high end of their discography so far. In that regard it’s a disappointment, but it’s still a recommendable release if folk/melodeath floats your boat.

7.2/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion is the third album from Switzerland’s Eluveitie. After putting out a couple of hybrid folk metal/melodic death metal albums, earning a reputation for their second album Slania in particular, Eluveitie decided to produce an album that stripped the metal out of their sound and moved frontman Chrigel Glanzmann into the background and stuck hurdy gurdy player Anna Murphy in his place as the band’s lead vocalist. This can only be beyond awful right?

Well actually it’s not. In fact although I know I’m going to get some flak for this, but Evocation I is actually, as far as I’m concerned, Eluveitie’s best album. At least it’s the only album of theirs that I feel really warrants the regard they’ve received within the folk metal scene, with the paradox in that sentence being that this isn’t even a metal album.

Allow me to explain myself. I’ve never been big on Eluveitie on a personal or even professional level. Slania is a solid and respectable album but I never felt it was masterful or anything, and their prior releases never really grabbed me. I also didn’t have a high opinion at all of Evocation I’s successor, Everything Remains as it Never Was. The problem was I also felt that Eluveitie’s Celtic folk sounds were right on the mark, but their metal was generally lacking. Then in 2009 they pulled Evocation I out of the hat, gave the metal the boot and allowed their folk influences to shine.

And shine it does. Evocation I features a nice varied approach to the folk instrumentation that ranges from the melancholic to the energetic. The lyrics on the album are mostly in the language Gaulish, giving an ancient and authentic feel to the folk music produced. This is spoiled slightly by the band retaining some small use of death growling in a few places, showing something of an unwillingness to complete isolate the sound from their past work, and seriously death growling plus pure folk music is a total no go. Fortunately it’s used sparingly.

Vocals are not as common in the album as a typical Eluveitie release. Many songs come across as quite ritual-like, although since I don’t know the first thing about Gaulish I can’t really tell what anything is about, although I do know that based on her dominant vocal contributions to the album the band should just move Anna Murphy up to the microphone full-time, since her vocals have much more charm and work better with the folk than Chrigel Glanzmann’s growl ever did. It only takes the more song-like tracks Brictom and Omnos to fully realise this.

I guess for those who are used to their normal work, Evocation I is a bit of a weird one, which may stop fans of the band from fully realising what a treasure the album really is. It would be fair to put it down as an acquired taste certainly, although I’d like to think that any metal fan who listens to folk metal regularly will be able to appreciate just want has been created here.

Unfortunately as I mentioned earlier Eluveitie went back to the day job so to speak after this album, and Everything Remains as it Never Was majorly disappointed me and they’re also just put out their fifth album, Helvetios, another metal album, which I haven’t heard yet but will be getting a review sometime in the near future. Fortunately as the title of this one suggests it’s actually the first part of a two album concept, so one day we should be treated to an Evocation II. I for one however wish that Eluvietie would get their act in gear and realise that this is what they are really good at. Evocation one has a few small hiccups, but this is only just below the borderline of a true masterpiece.

9.4/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 I’m sitting here now listening to Italian metal act Lacuna Coil’s latest full-length, Dark Adrenaline, wondering what the hell happened to the band that at one time I considered to number among my favourite bands. Lacuna Coil started life as a gothic metal act and they were a good one. Then in 2006, after a four year break between studio albums they released Karmacode and their sound changed to a more alternative metal direction. Ironically it was Karmacode that first brought the band to my attention, with the quite addictive song Our Truth, but upon looking into their back catalogue I realised to my surprise that in 2006 Karmacode was actually their weakest album to date. When the band followed it up with Shallow Life in 2009 I wasn’t much impressed. The album was no worse than Karmacode but it was no better either, and went even further in the alternative metal direction. If two albums of lesser quality in a new style to their old style wasn’t enough to go by, Dark Adrenaline comes across as the final nail in the coffin. No new ground or no return to the style they were good at, and not even another Shallow Life in that it at least wasn’t worse than the previous album. Dark Adrenaline is Lacuna Coil’s worst album, no contest.

Like with the last couple of albums we’re dealing with fairly typical alternative metal riffs. I wouldn’t say the guitars play a very big part in Lacuna Coil’s sound at all, and the guitarists are rarely given the opportunity to shine due to leads being a rarity. The music does nothing really to reward the more demanding metal fan, in fact to be blunt I think it’s pretty obvious that ever since 2006 Lacuna Coil hasn’t cared at all about pleasing metal fans, they’re out to please fans of commercial music, which this is, and while I’ve always considered myself quite vocal to support that the equation ‘commercial + metal != bad’ is true, this is a pretty poor attempt at merging the two worlds. Lacuna Coil has proved capable of being good at it in small doses with Karmacode and Shallow Life, but the problem with Dark Adrenaline is that it lacks any sort of highlights regardless of which audience I try to review this review in perspective to. It’s an utter disappointment to say the least.

My reviews are normally longer and more detailed than this but ultimately with this one there’s just really not much that can be said. If you enjoyed Lacuna Coil’s earlier material and have been disappointed since Karamcode then there is no reason at all for you to even consider Dark Adrenaline. It’s a much weaker more of the same album. And if you do happen to enjoy their alternative metal direction there’s still not much point in you considering Dark Adrenaline, because it’s a much weaker more of the same album. It offers nothing that Karamcode and Shallow Life didn’t do better, and just makes me wonder why the hell a good band would throw away everything they had going for them like Lacuna Coil did. Even frontwoman Cristina Scabbia sounds like she’s having an off-day with her vocals on this one and the instrumentation leaves a lot to be desired. I really have nothing positive to say at all.

1.8/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Power Dive is the second album from German symphonic metal act Voices of Destiny. The style of the album more specifically draws on gothic metal and power metal within the dominantly symphonic sound, using the beauty and the beast vocal format. The album was released in 2012.

Now I consider symphonic metal to be one of my favourite styles of metal, especially the female fronted bands, but deep down I’m also highly critical of the genre, especially the female fronted bands. The reason? Repetition. There are not many bands that really manage to hold my attention now that I’ve got acquainted with a wide range of acts. In fact although I guess some may argue, I don’t think you can beat the big name acts of the style at their own game, and that’s exactly the problem with Voices of Destiny’s second album. It’s my first encounter with the band, and while I won’t go as far to say that it will be my last, the band is young and all and as they do show later in the album may have something surprising up their sleeves for the future, Power Dive isn’t an album that makes me want to revisit it in a hurry.

If you’ve heard Epica’s music then you’ll know kind of what to expect with Voices of Destiny, except what we have here comes across not so much an Epica clone act as a poor man’s version of them. The band’s best asset would have to be female vocalist Maike Holzmann, whose vocals are very typical of the style but that’s why she’s the band’s best asset. She’s just right for the style, it’s just everything else going on around her that typically lets her down badly for the majority of Power Dive. Her male counterpart Lukas Palme, who is also the keyboardist, is not a bad growler at all, but he just doesn’t put on a performance that really offsets Maike Holzmann’s vocals. The symphonic keyboards don’t really add a lot to the music either in most of the tracks. You can hear them in the background having their odd moments, but there’s no epic fusion of heavy guitar riffs and classical music and when symphonic metal fails to be epic, unless it has other redeeming features, I typically just lose interest and sadly that’s just what has happened on Power Dive. It’s not really rare for me to be a bit disappointed in symphonic metal albums due to not really bringing anything new to the table, but many of them can end up still being solid albums. It is rare however for me to be as disappointed though as I am with this one.

The reason for that is that the songs just aren’t memorable. The elements are there, but they just don’t come together. The title track in particular is just the most extremely boring symphonic metal song I think I’ve ever heard. Things pick up a bit after that, as a bit of power metal influence comes into play, but it takes until Dedication, which is the eighth of eleven tracks, until I really hear something that tells me that Voices of Destiny have potential within their field. I actually enjoyed this track a fair bit. An album that kept up this calibre may not have been groundbreaking or innovative but it at least would have been a solid addition to a symphonic metal fan’s collection. Unfortunately you probably don’t need to be told that if you have to wait until the eighth track to get a highlight then the album has serious problems.

But what’s this? That’s right after suddenly delivering the good eight tracks in Voices of Destiny surprise me and do in again straight away with Your Hands. It’s too a lesser degree certainly but after what I just about got used to pre-Dedication this is surprising to say the least. This was a reason for pointedly saying ‘mostly’ and ‘majority’ a couple of times in the earlier stages of this review. I find it totally flummoxing how an artist can get it wrong for so long during an album and then suddenly start delivering the goods this far in. Yeah you guessed it, they did it yet again with Red Winter's Snow I (Prophets Of Doom). Okay, so it still kind of suffers with the issues outlined earlier in this review but at the end of the day this is damn solid symphonic metal, and ultimately that’s all I really demand of the genre. Innovation is very nice of course, but if a symphonic metal album can be made up of solid material with an epic sound then I’ll be a happy bunny.

It just makes me want to scream at the injustice of it all. Had the whole album been of the quality they suddenly pulled out of the hat towards the end we’d have been talking a recommendable release, but ultimately all Voices of Destiny proved with Power Dive is how inconsistent they are. It didn’t help that you could break the album up into sections such as ‘Cliché Intro Track’, ‘Really Boring Track’, ‘Okay Tracks’, ‘Great Tracks’ and ‘Just as Cliché Outro Track’. Really Voices of Destiny had enough material for a decent EP here, which it may as well be with so much filler within the album in one solid block. Even one more great track could have just about pushed Power Dive into purely average territory, since Maike Holzmann really does shine vocally, but with far more average to bad stuff outweighing the good stuff, I ultimately have to consider this a below average symphonic metal release.

4.3/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven(http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 The Landing is the seventh album from German power metal band Iron Savior, and it may just be in possession of the best artwork of 2011. Talk about eye-catching! Fortunately though the music of the album more than lives up to the greatness of the cover art, because with The Landing we’re talking classic guitar-driven power metal, which admittedly isn’t without its portion of cheese, but is an absolutely killer release.

I don’t know what it is about the Germans, but they seem to be able to consistently turn out top quality power metal more so than any other country I know, having given the world big name acts like Helloween, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray and Avantasia to name but a handful of the big name acts. The Landing is my first encounter with the lesser known Iron Savior, who actually has connections to most of those bigger bands I just mentioned in that their original line-up featured both Kai Hansen (ex-Helloween, Gamma Ray) and Thomen Stauch (ex-Blind Guardian). Both have since departed Iron Savior, leaving it in the hands of frontman Piet Sielck who has continued the band to the point that recently he left his other band, Savage Circus, in order to focus all his attention on Iron Savior. I haven’t heard the work the band did with the more well known musicians, but I can safely say that if The Landing is anything to go by, Iron Savior is doing very well as it is!

As I said this is the guitar driven kind of power metal, which in itself means that the music doesn’t suffer from being too cheesy, especially since Sielck’s vocals have a rough edge to them rather than the high pitched soaring melody associated with vocalists like Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween). What cheesy stuff is here is in the lyrics of a couple of the tracks, namely Heavy Metal Never Dies and R.U. Ready. With names like that you don’t really need to be told why do you? Of course I think any metalhead can appreciate the sentiment expressed in the former track, even if such lyrics have been somewhat over done by various artists over the years. R.U. Ready is in the same vein, leaning more towards rock this time though, and contains lines that reference classic tracks such as Smoke on the Water, Born to be Wild, Breaking the Law and more. This is as far as the cheese in The Landing goes though, and even then, I guess this only rates a 2 at most on the cheese-o-metre.

The music on The Landing can be considered one dimensional, apart from one foray into balladry territory on Before the Pain, but that’s not really a problem since it’s clear that Iron Savior is a band who know what they’re good at, and they deliver exceptionally on The Landing, even in those cheesy moments. The real goods though are delivered in the form of The Savior, Starlight, March of Doom, Moment in Time and the closing No Guts No Glory. The production job, done by Piet Sielck, gives a crisp sound to the guitars, resulting in a clear sound but it may have worked even better done in such a way to give the riffs a bit of additional heaviness but all in all it’s a professional job that shows off Sielck’s vocals especially well.

The Landing may be something of a typical power metal album in some ways but it also stands out in front of the crowd of acts where the cheese is way too prevailing, which is one of the reasons that I believe that the power metal genre gets a bit of bad press, especially from the more die-hard metalheads. The Landing is one of those albums that shows that the genre, when done at its best, is one that means just as much business as thrash, death and traditional metal. Iron Savior proves that they deserve to be right up there with the greats with this one and The Landing comes highly recommended to all, especially if you’re one of those that when confronted with power metal thinks ‘flower metal’ and promptly ignores it. The Landing is the sort of album that should make you realise just how much you’re missing out on.

9.4/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Phase Reverse is the self-titled debut album from this Greek trio, which was originally released in 2009 to the Greek market only but saw wider distribution at the tail-end of 2011 after the band signed to Aural Music. The 2011 version comes with a bonus track and new artwork. The band comes with the quite interesting branding of being “not quite metal, note quite rock, but the best of both.” I guess that’s kind of true, since their music tends to sway back and forth between the hard rock and traditional heavy metal genres, but ultimately I have to consider this album more within the hard rock genre, even if it is an album that can heavy it up right into metal territory, rather than being in total balance between the two.

I guess the burning question is though is if Phase Reverse’s drifting between hard rock and heavy metal aspects affects the consistency of their music in any way. Well it’s very clear to me that it does affect it, but in a very good way. Hard rock and heavy metal are pretty closely related of course, if fact I know a few people who consider them one and the same, something I don’t quite agree with myself but Phase Reverse is an album that seems tailored to give credence to such a view. The band’s music drifts between classic hard rock riffs and more aggressive metal parts seamlessly. The somewhat raw quality to the vocals helps a lot with the flow of the tracks. I’m pretty sure that with a voice like this Anastasios "Tas" Ioannidis would be right at home fronting any sort of hard rock or heavy metal band.

In some ways the band reminds me of some of the more successful hard rock or even alternative metal acts, which is the main reason I consider this album more hard rock based, but the major difference is those metal influences that really spice up the music just that bit more, which for me, makes Phase Reverse a much easier and more much enjoyable listen than many of the acts that hit the big time. I think that’s also because the band shares more qualities with their writing with more classic bands than relatively recent acts on the scene. I don’t think mentioning them in the same breath as the likes of Led Zeppelin would be inappropriate at all. Not that Phase Reverse sounds retro at all, this is very much modern rock music, pulled off extremely well.

Did I mention that it’s fantastic? This is as far as I’m concerned how hard rock music should sound. It is catchy yet intense on the guitars, creating a really heavy sound, played by musicians that are clearly worth their salt, and has awesome vocals that fit the music regardless if the band is on a light section (which there are quite a few of) or rocking out. It rocks. Pure and simple it just plain rocks. What more reason do you need to be adding this one to your collection?

Phase Reverse is just starting out, but as this album shows they’re already a force to be reckoned with. Their debut comes highly recommended to all rock and metal fans.

8.6/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 Bury the Light is the fourth studio album from US power metal act Pharaoh. The 2012 album is the band’s first full-length since 2008’s Be Gone, although there was an EP, Ten Years, released in 2011. While the EP was a solid effort it’s Bury the Light that the fans will really have been waiting for. And the wait, I assure you, is totally worth it.

What I like about Bury the Light the most is that it not only retains the high level of quality song writing and musicianship that I’ve come to expect from a Pharaoh album, but it also sees Pharaoh pushing the boat out a bit more when it comes to what they’re including in their sound, which admittedly is pretty much intact from Be Gone, but with a little more variation. Be Gone, in my opinion, is an essential USPM album, but much of it sticks to the tried and tested formula. Bury the Light on the other hand, while still very much a USPM album in Pharaoh’s distinct style, has more in common with the band’s 2006 masterpiece The Longest Night not so much in overall sound but the fact it’s not as one-dimensional as Be Gone. Here we have plenty of quality USPM on offer that’s sure to please the fans, but the music also strays into other genres as well, resulting in some nice surprises.

A notable example of this would have to be the album’s fourth track, The Year of the Blizzard, which includes influences from retro hard rock, but also of note is The Wolves, which sees Pharaoh playing at their most aggressive, compared to their usually melody driven music. Every now and then throughout the album we also get some parts that stray into progressive territory. For the most part though the album is, if anything, typical Pharaoh, a sound that isn’t really as aggressive as some USPM can be, but doesn’t fit the Euro PM mould either, instead sitting somewhere in between. Melodic USPM would be an appropriate tag for Pharaoh’s music I guess.

As with all Pharaoh releases the four-piece band is a tight unit. The instrumental work from Matt Johnsen (guitars), Chris Kerns (bass), and Chris Black (drums) sounds great behind Tim Aymer’s powerful vocals. The album also features a guest guitar solo from regular Pharaoh collaborator Jim Dofka and also features a guest solo slot from Mike Wead (King Diamond). Album highlights would be Leave Me Here to Dream, Graveyard of Empires, Castles in The Sky and The Wolves. There are no weak tracks though, in fact the only negative thing I have to say about Bury the Light is that for some parts of the album the production work is a bit lacking. It’s certainly not a terrible production job and in itself manages to give Bury the Light a little bit of a different feel to it than Be Gone in particular, but there are definitely some parts to the album that seem to demand the polished and clear production of Be Gone rather than the occasionally rawer production values to be found here. This is fitting enough for an aggressive track like The Wolves, but don’t sit as well with me for the melodic numbers.

The production is a minor issue though, as it doesn’t take away from the overall enjoyment that I get from the release, and speaking as a fan of the band instead of a reviewer, I’m not disappointed in this release at all, although ultimately, even though it’s another exceptional effort from Pharaoh, I have to say that Bury the Light doesn’t quite manage to stand up to The Longest Night and Be Gone. Although after two masterpieces this is a more than satisfactory release from the band, which I’d rank the third best out of their four albums to date.

9.0/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 The City Sleeps is the third album from UK prog act Touchstone. The band, although most commonly described as a progressive rock act, has many progressive metal and hard rock qualities as well, giving them a wide appeal. In a development from their previous album Wintercoast (2009) the band has acquired some strong leanings into symphonic prog territory, along with a general increase in the progressive nature of their compositions.

Whether Touchstone is ultimately more of a rock or a metal act remains up for debate as of The City Sleeps. If you want to consider the dividing line as how heavy the music is, then The City Sleeps is most definitely a progressive rock album, drawing on hard rock certainly but still a rock album overall. Changing the view to a perspective of technique however and things start getting quite a bit more metal. Just listen to the galloping rhythm of the riff in These Walls for a first class example of what I mean. Regardless of where you want to pigeonhole Touchstone however one thing remains constant, they’re absolutely at the top of their game.

Being a part of the female fronted prog scene that seems to have been gaining some popularity in recent years, Touchstone has one of the best lead singers around in Kim Seviour. Her delivery is melodic and emotive and a true asset to the band. But as good as Kim is I want to give special mention in this review to Touchstone’s second vocalist Rob Cottingham (also keyboardist). Rob doesn’t sing as much Kim does, but when he does his vocals are most definitely of the same calibre as Kim’s. His lines during the gentler parts of the epic When Shadows Fall showcase him at his very best and when both singers duet they complement each other perfectly.

When Shadows Fall is one of two epics on the album, the other being the title track. These two make up some of the very best that the album has to offer, but as with Wintercoast there isn’t a bad track on here, although overall now that I’ve given the album time to sink in I have to say that The City Sleeps doesn’t manage to quite match Wintercoast overall, although it does contain some of the group’s best tracks yet and is a very worthy follow-up to the aforementioned Wintercoast. Despite not topping their previous album, I’m very pleased with Touchstone’s development as a band on The City Sleeps and if this is anything to go by, then Touchstone has a bright and successful career ahead of them. The album comes high recommended.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org), scored at 9.0/10)

adg211288 Evanescence is the self-titled third release from alternative/gothic rock/metal act Evanescence. The 2011 release is the first from the band since 2006’s The Open Door. Evanescence had a lot of commercial success since their 2003 debut, Fallen, but this had the rather unfortunate side effect that every female fronted metal act started getting compared to them despite the fact that many of them were releasing albums a long time before Evanescence and the even more important fact that Evanescence actually plays more in an alternative rock/metal style. Evanescence also seems to have become a generally reviled act within the metal community in particular, possibly because of the above, or maybe because of their more commercial tendencies than is generally accepted for a heavier band. Fallen, however commercial it may be, was a great album. The second, The Open Door, released after losing guitarist Ben Moody, who was one of the main composers, was not so much and I have to confess that with such a plummet in quality I lost what interest I had in the band. So Evanescence now returns to the music world with this album and against my better judgement I find myself interested enough to find out if they can return to form with this self-titled effort, although after The Open Door I came to this album without very high expectations.

In terms of style not much has changed since Fallen, the band is still a semi heavy alternative act with lashings of piano all the way through it. The guitars fit the alternative metal vein even though a good portion of the metal crowd will probably still outright deny that the band is metal (they are borderline admittedly), and the music is still very commercial.

Kicking the album off with its lead single, What You Want, and my worst fears are realised, Evanescence wasn’t back with a bang, and if anything they were beginning their comeback with what may just be the worst track they’ve ever put out. It sounds like it was written as a pop song, and then some heavy alternative metal style guitars were added to it. Musically this is a complete disaster. Imagine taking the vocal tracks of a one song and sticking them over the music of another song, preferably one at the other end of the musical spectrum. It just doesn’t work does it? And that’s exactly what we’ve got here only this track was actually intentionally put together like this. It was seriously almost enough to give up on the album there and then.

It’s a good thing I stuck with it though, as once the disaster of a opener is over the album does do, I wouldn’t call it a complete 180 degree turn, perhaps more like a 120 degree turn, and suddenly the album isn’t as bad as what I initially thought (and was reinforced by What You Want) it would be. It is still not exactly a great album and Fallen is still casting a shadow over everything the band has done since, but Evanescence is at least a stronger album than the very weak The Open Door. Ultimately though what impresses me the most about Evanescence is singer Amy Lee’s vocals and her piano playing. The piano actually adds a nice and interesting touch to what could otherwise be considered a pretty bland album. The songs are generally stronger than those on The Open Door, so it seems the band’s hiatus was not wasted as much as I want to scream about how much of a disaster What You Want is.

The album is not exactly the return to form I could have wished for but it is a step back on the right track for the band and they have at least come back stronger than they were before the hiatus. I do still however feel some apprehension at where they could go next as at the end of the day Evanescence is an album filled with mostly potential for good but also some really bad stuff. Did it have just that bit more consistency I think an above average rating would be appropriate but I have to take into consideration that What You Want is just the definition of a stinker and downgrade my rating to something more representative of a middle of the road release, which is ultimately most appropriate since the album does leave me with mixed feelings upon its conclusion. I think that Evanescence could go either way from here, either back to really delivering the goods in the field of alternative rock/metal or just push the boundaries of commercial influences in heavy music so much that they’ll lose what remaining credibility they have.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org), scored at 5.2/10)

adg211288 Although Elysium is the thirteenth album to carry the name of long-running Finnish power metal act Stratovarius in reality what we have here is a major case of Trigger’s Broom, with lead vocalist Timo Kotipelto being the longest running band member, having joined in 1994 in time for the group’s fourth album, 1995’s Fourth Dimension. Whether you’re for or against such things is irrelevant, as Stratovarius serves up a solid dose of melodic power metal on Elysium.

Being my proper introduction to the band, I have to say that Elysium sets a really fine first impression. I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive about the album though. Although I’d never really properly checked them out before now I was well aware of the existence of Stratovarius for many years. More specifically I knew that their main writer was guitarist Timo Tolkki and that he parted ways with the band a couple of albums back, and losing your main writer is never a good thing. Secondly I’d seen that the couple of albums prior to Elysium, one with Tolkki and one without, hadn’t exactly been received with open arms, although the first post-Tolkki album, 2009’s Polaris, was admitted better received than Tolkki’s final work with them, the 2005 self-titled effort. Given these two things I was kind of expecting Elysium to be the work of a band well past their prime struggling to relive their glory days. That isn’t the case in the slightest. I don’t need to hear those not so well received last couple of albums to say with confidence that Stratovarius is most definitely back and they mean business.

While the crowning achievement here is the title track, an eighteen minute piece with three sections that takes the album into progressive metal territory, there is plenty of power metal goodness on offer. An early highlight is Under Flaming Skies, which I feel is the moment where Elysium really picks up because to be honest I’m not overly fond of the album’s opener Darkest Hours. I think it’s a patchy song. Fortunately from Under Flaming Skies onwards things maintain a higher level of quality, although Lifetime in a Moment doesn’t make best use of its 6:39 duration and is only saved in its early stages by Kotipelto’s stunning vocal delivery, allowing it time to pick up into quite an interesting piece. Aside from these couple of hiccups we’re dealing with some top notch power metal that has all the elements required to be great, and it is great, but I can’t help feeling that without those small issues we’d be instead listening to something exceptional. Other highlights of the album would be Event Horizon, a very neoclassical infused track, along with Move the Mountain.

I’m overall feeling very positive about Elysium and would easily recommend it to any power metal fan or to a metal fan in general for that matter. Based on this I’m looking forward to checking out the band’s back catalogue because by the sound of things I’ve been missing out. Having checked out the album Visions from 1997 before finalising this review, I can also safely say that Elysium, while not as good, sits with pride beside it.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 8.2/10)

adg211288 If you’ve ever wondered what Rhapsody of Fire would sound like if they ditched Fabio Lione in favour of a female singer then you need look no further than Italy’s Ancient Bards. The young symphonic power metal crew share many similarities with their longer running countrymen, such as the epic symphonic nature of their power metal that isn’t without its neoclassical touches and a fondness for the multi album concept, but they have a female singer, Sara Squadrani. Of course there are other differences in the sounds of the two bands, but there are enough parallels that I can’t help but draw some sort of comparison between them.

2011’s Soulless Child is the group’s second album, a conceptual piece that continues the story began in the band’s 2010 debut, The Alliance of the Kings. The aforementioned album impressed me greatly last year and I’ve been quite eager for its continuation ever since. What I find here though is a slightly different Ancient Bards. While The Alliance of the Kings was undoubtedly a symphonic power metal album through and through, Soulless Child is a symphonic power metal album crossed with actual symphonic metal. That is to say that metal can be symphonic without actually being pure symphonic metal, something which is rarer than you may think. Here we have symphonic power metal yes, but it also meets the definition of pure symphonic metal in many places. The symphonic keyboards often take a more dominate role, and the classical influences are unmistakeable. These classical influences also manifest as neoclassical guitar leads. This is still best described as a power metal release in my opinion, but symphonic metal wouldn’t be wrong either.

Unlike with many of the female fronted symphonic metal acts however, Sara Squadrani isn’t an operatic vocalist. Her vocals are, for want of a better description, more metal orientated than singers such as Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish) or Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), although she is still very melodic and powerful. It would still be easy to lump Ancient Bards into the same crowd as acts like Nightwish, especially as of this album which does have some qualities that brings to mind Nightwish’s early output, and also some moments, particularly the choirs, where I think of Epica, but ultimately this wouldn’t be fair, as Ancient Bards is worlds apart in the wider scheme of things. They’re a lot heavier for a start, with their extremely fast power metal riffs propelling the music along with Daniele Mazza’s keyboards which gives the music an epic yet intense sound.

At first I wasn’t as fond of Soulless Child as I was of The Alliance of the Kings, but as is often the way of things I’ve grown to appreciate the album as a work of true genius. There is never a power loss throughout the album and every single track (excluding the intro piece Struggle for Life and the interlude Dinanzi Al Flagello) has many claims to being the very beast the album has to offer. The ones that really do it for me though are Gates of Noland and Hope Dies Last, a fourteen minute thirty beast of a track which is easily the band’s crowning achievement to date. Power metal does not get more epic than this and it’s most definitely refreshing on the symphonic metal front for the singer to be belting out the lyrics in true passionate rock style rather than operatic warbling.

On the track Through my Veins the band delivers a duet between Squadrani and guest vocalist Gianmaria Vannoni (Dawn Under Eclipse). Being from a melodic death metal/metalcore act, Vannoni brings harsh vocals into the mix, which at first I did feel were unneeded, but like with the rest of Soulless Child I grew to appreciate the track a whole lot by the time I came to write this review. Soulless Child has in fact quite successfully cracked my top 5 albums of 2011, and I heard a lot of releases from the year now, including more albums I’d grade as masterpieces than any other year I know of. And do you know what the icing on the cake is? The album sounds even more epic when listening to it back to back with The Alliance of the Kings. I can’t wait to hear what this band does next!

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.8/10)

adg211288 Escape of Pozoj is the second instalment of a trilogy of albums by Croatian avant-garde/progressive black metal act Johann Wolfgang Pozoj. The album was originally released back in 2009 but like the first album in the trilogy, Birth of Pozoj, has now been rerecorded and released in late 2011. Unlike the two versions of Birth of Pozoj which featured noticeable changes just by checking the track lists against each other the new version of Escape of Pozoj features an identical set of tracks, with more or less the same durations. I would hazard a guess that this means the band were more or less happy with the original album, which I haven’t heard, at least on the compositional front.

Unlike the two lengthy compositions that made up Birth of Pozoj what we have on Escape of Pozoj is four times as many tracks but all much shorter in duration, the exception being the closing Prstima Prelazim Preko Tvoga Tijela... which clocks in a thirteen and a half minutes, though this is still pretty far from the times of Birth of Pozoj’s Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes at 33:51 and Queen Emeraldas at 20:45. That’s what it looks like on the tin anyway, since the tracks transitions are so smooth that the end result sounds like a single track lasting a little under fifty minutes.

Escape of Pozoj, like Birth of Pozoj, has not got the most ‘out there’ sound for something described as being avant-garde, in fact for the most part I’d rather label Johann Wolfgang Pozoj’s music as progressive rather than avant-garde. The music is in the same vein as Birth of Pozoj, which means some traditional black metal rawness to the guitars but with some riffs that don’t really fit the black metal mould and inclusion of ambient parts, which start off the album in this case. The ambient parts are one of the best features in Escape of Pozoj in my opinion, successfully creating a dark atmosphere for the music better than the raw riffs and black metal growls.

As a thematic sequel to Birth of Pozoj Escape of Pozoj succeeds in sounding like a direct continuation of the first album, and I expect the currently forthcoming final instalment Return of Pozoj will do the same, making them sound like one really long album. The quality of Escape of Pozoj is totally on par with Birth of Pozoj to the point that I really can’t call which of them is the superior album. That means that Escape of Pozoj is a solid release that I expect will have a wide appeal among metal fans. I’m not looking forward to hearing the final instalment of the trilogy, Return of Pozoj, the only one of the three than has not been released before, which is currently slated for a 2012 release.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 8.4/10)

adg211288 Imaginaerum, the seventh album from Finnish symphonic metal act Nightwish, is not, in any way, an easy album to review. Somewhere in this album I’m pretty confident that a masterpiece, a work of art even, is just waiting to be found. Unfortunately finding it really is the trick here. This is not an album that can really be judged fairly from a single or even a few listens. During my early listens I have to say I thought this album was the worst thing the band had ever done, and the next couple didn’t make it seem any better either. In fact, three listens down the road I actually started writing a very different review than this one for the album, one that would have seen Imaginaerum ranked alongside the very worst releases I’ve reviewed from 2011. But this is an album by Nightwish, and that means it isn’t something I write off lightly. Nightwish was one of the very first metal bands I discovered, and one whom I stuck by even when they did the unthinkable and fired their stunning vocalist Tarja Turunen. I felt I owed it to myself perhaps most of all to keep trying Imaginaerum in an attempt to get it to click. Finally, after about half a dozen listens, the album started to give up the goods.

I think that in one way Nightwish deliberately tried to mislead their audience in the build up to the release of Imaginaerum. I’m talking of course about its lead single, Storytime, a track that is so much the most typical Nightwish track on offer that it gave me a strong sense of ‘I’ve heard this all before’ when listening to it. Still does for that matter but read on. It’s most certainly a safe bet for the first single, and anyone who liked the band’s last couple of albums Once (2004) and Dark Passion Play (2007) are likely to lap this track up. The fact of the matter is though that this really is the most typical Nightwish track on Imaginaerum, and the rest of the album reveals surprise after surprise. This is still mostly a symphonic metal album, although Nightwish’s power metal inclinations have been largely dropped on this one, to be replaced by a whole host of other things including a healthy dose of Celtic folk, along with more moderate doses of folk metal, jazz, and even avant-garde metal stuff. You could I guess even consider it somewhat cabaret.

Imaginaerum is a release that just promised to be grandiose. To a point it is, but for me, even though now I’ve got into the album, I find it to be something of a disappointment. The burning question really is what happened to the twenty minute track that was spoken of in some interviews while the album was in production. While artists saying things before their albums are out and changing their minds during production isn’t uncommon, I can’t help but feel some kind of sadness for the total absence of this idea. Nightwish leader Tuomas Holopainen is a great symphonic metal composer. He proved that extremely well with Dark Passion Play’s epic opener The Poet and the Pendulum, which was and still arguably is the band’s crowning achievement. The idea of an even more epic twenty minute track had a lot of appeal for me, as I’m sure it did for many others as well. The closest we get is Song of Myself, which in comparison to what was expected comes as a kick in the teeth really. It’s good enough I suppose, but deep down is really only half a song, since the second half of it is given over to a recital of a poem that inspired the track. It fits into the album pretty well, being the second from last track when things are starting to reach a conclusion, but given what was originally spoken of, it’s a kick in the teeth all the same, mostly because in context of all the tracks, it’s not really an album highlight. Given that even with the poem this is ‘the epic one’ of the album, and ignoring the above which you may argue is personal bias on my part, this is still the most disappointing thing about Imaginaerum. There’s nothing that relives the glory of Nightwish’s past epics.

That is not to say that Imaginaerum is without any highlights. The highlights here are just to be found in shorter tracks such as the semi folk metal infused piece I Want My Tears Back, or one of the few power metal influenced numbers, Last Ride of the Day. I must say that I’ve become extremely partial to Scaretale above all others though, a seven and half minute track that on the face of it may seem another typical Nightwish track with epic symphonic parts, but is also an excursion into the weird and wonderful realm of the avant-garde, mostly in the vocal department. This is a real wacky song and totally unexpected, though perhaps not as much so as Slow, Love, Slow, a jazz track inspired by American 1930’s nightclub music. That isn’t really a favourite of mine in any way, but they pull it off pretty well. It works with the album, although along the lines of Imaginaerum taking a while to reveal its secrets, this one did seem very boring at first.

Slow, Love, Slow is just one of a few ballad tracks. The opening Taikatalvi, a Finnish language track sung by Marco Hietala alone, while more of an introduction than anything also falls into this category, as does Turn Loose The Mermaids and The Crow, The Owl and The Dove. Of those latter two I would consider Turn Loose the Mermaids to number amongst Imaginaerum’s very best tracks. This is very Celtic folk flavoured, and a beautiful song. The Crow, The Owl and the Dove is pretty much in the same vein, but just doesn’t hold as much charm as Turn Loose the Mermaids, which has quite addictive lyrics. Normally for a metal album I might criticise this amount of balladry, but since its symphonic metal, a style that doesn’t shy away from commercial ideas, it gets away with it, although this is also because that Turn Loose the Mermaids, along with Scaretale, represents the very best of what Imaginaerum has to offer. You might argue that it’s a problem that ballads are better than the metal tracks in a metal album, but somehow that doesn’t really matter with Imaginaerum. Imaginaerum may be primarily a symphonic metal album, but it’s very clear that it isn’t intended to be tied down to a single genre. I really like that about it, although it really did throw me off a bit during those early listens. Prior to this you might have, not unjustly in my opinion, have said that Nightwish was becoming a predictable band. Then along comes Imaginaerum to slap you in the face; you’re stunned for a moment, but it’s now got your attention. In this case you’ll realise that Nightwish isn’t quite as stagnant as you may have thought.

There’s also some instrumental stuff on the album, in the form of the interlude Arabesque, and the closing title track, which reprises all the main themes from the other songs on the album, with the intent of forming an ending credits style piece. As you’re likely aware, the album Imaginaerum is to be accompanied by a movie of the same name, to be released during 2012. It seems that these tracks are designed more for the film than the album, but they work well enough. I actually quite like the reprises at the end as they give a feeling of closing to the musical journey that is Imaginaerum.

A Nightwish review probably wouldn’t be complete without some mention of the vocals, since new vocalist Anette Olzon attracted much criticism with her first outing with the band, though I think it is fair to say that much of this was because she wasn’t Tarja Turunen II. Mind you knowing people like I do, she’d likely have got just as much criticism if she had sounded exactly like Tarja. Regardless I am impressed with her vocals more on Imaginaerum than I was on Dark Passion Play. She sounds like she belongs here now, more so because of Nightwish breaking their mould with Imaginaerum. Much of Dark Passion Play’s material seemed to scream for Tarja’s abilities, but Imaginaerum seems much more tailored for Anette. Marco Hietala’s vocals work well as always, ranging from melodic to some more gruffer stuff, as used in Ghost River, which is another quite weird track, albeit not up to the weirdness level of Scaretale.

Coming full circle with my opening paragraph, I’m very sure that there’s a masterpiece hidden in Imaginaerum somewhere, but ultimately I’m yet to find it even though I really enjoy the release now and have listened to it several times prior to writing this review. Maybe many listens down the track I may feel the need to revisit this review, but for now the album does ultimately stand as just a generally positive experience, but nothing more. It is still a disappointment in some aspects, and to be honest this isn’t really significantly better or worse than the last couple of albums by the band, but I do feel that it is a step in the right direction for the band given the decision to go with a lead singer so drastically different from her predecessor. This is a Nightwish whose music doesn’t need the operatic vocal. This is a Nightwish who prove that they can still make a symphonic metal album that isn’t overly commercial. This is a Nightwish who, disappointments aside, have awakened my interest in them anew. Now I’m just left hoping they don’t leave it so long between albums again. In the meantime there’s the accompanying film to look forward to, which if it’s any bit as mad as the album, promises to be one wild ride in itself.

8.3/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)

adg211288 Music of Light is the debut full-length album from German metal act Arven. The almost entirely female band (except drummer Till Felden) dubs their music as simply melodic metal, and it’s not hard to hear why on Music of Light with the number of influences that are pulled into the band’s sound which ultimately results in an eclectic mix of power metal, folk metal and symphonic metal, with even a few flairs into progressive territory. Music of Light was released in 2011.

On paper Arven may well come across as just another symphonic act with a classical trained female vocalist, and it would be easy to pass over them since on paper they have the typical setup for such an act. Carina Hanselmann’s vocals are melodic, can be operatic, and would definitely fit the template for a typical symphonic metal act but her vocals are actually where any similarities Arven has to acts such as Nightwish or Epica end. Even though the music is still symphonic, it doesn’t fit the typical mould for the style because the power metal inclined riffs of Anastasia Schmidt and Ines Thomé are generally the focal point of the music, along with common but not constant use of folk melodies, that is to say they don’t include the folk on every single track on the album, making Music of Light much more the melodic power metal orientated release than anything else. The folk is pretty common here all the same, and it spices up the music a lot when used, especially since it is coupled with the excellent piano playing of Lena Yatsula which gives off quite the medieval sounding mood to Arven’s music, which is something which is heard straight away with the opening title track. It’s the piano that often strikes me as the real key ingredient here actually. While there is also some more traditional symphonic stuff on the album, the piano is the much more common choice on the keys front, and it adds an interesting layer to the power metal sound, especially in tracks such as Dark Red Desire.

Because of all this Arven’s style is difficult to place into any one genre of metal and gives the band more of their own identity, which is of course a good thing in a metal scene where acts with female vocalists have become quite a big thing and the amount of acts that either don’t bring anything new to the table or go down far too commercial routes are becoming way too common. Music of Light sounds not only fresh and exciting, but is also a high quality debut album. All six of the musicians (which also includes the as yet unmentioned bassist Lisa Geiß) prove skilled at their instruments and there isn’t a track on the album that is any weaker than the rest.

The folk melodies in particular are really great, sometimes to the point that I wished they were used in all of the tracks, because pieces such as Music of Light and Raise Your Cups really stand out as the album’s highlights, though I do like the fact that the album has a high level of variety to it by not sticking to any particular tried and tested formula. You could put down my desire for folk dominance as a personal preference really, since the tracks lighter on the folk are just as good, and each composition is able to assert its own identity within the album pretty quickly. At one end of the spectrum you have the seven minute My Dear Friend, which represents the album’s ballad, and at the other end there are more guitar driven power metal fuelled tracks such as World of Hatred, another highlight of the album.

This debut album proves that Arven has a lot to offer the metal world, and I highly advise fans of power, folk, symphonic and even progressive metal to give them a chance. It has a few very minor flaws to be fair, most notably I can’t help wondering how much more powerful the music would sound if they cracked up the intensity of their riffs a bit more in a couple of places, but otherwise Arven’s debut delivers. The field of melodic metal has a strong new competitor in Arven.

9.1/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)

adg211288 German gothic metal act Coronatus hasn’t exactly had a stable line-up during their career. With every album release from the band there has been a line-up change. 2011’s Terra Incognita, which is the fourth album from the band, is no exception to this and is actually the most radical line-up change between albums yet, with only drummer Mats Kurth (also the only original member left) and guitarist Aria Keramati Noori remaining from the line-up that recorded the group’s previous studio album, 2009’s Fabula Magna, although it does also see the return of former member Ada Flechtner, who sang on their second album, Porta Obscura from 2008.

Traditionally Coronatus is fronted by two female singers, one representing a classical voice and the other a rock voice. Singer Carmen R. Lorch (formerly Schäfer) had been the long running classical singer with the band but she left after Fabula Magna, as did the current rock vocalist Lisa Lasch. Initially Terra Incognita was to usher in a completely new vocal duo, with Arcane Grail’s Natalia Kempin replacing Lorch, and Mareike Makosch replacing Lasch. Kempin left the band before the album could be recorded however, which opened the way for Flechtner’s return. Flechtner was representative of the rock voice when she sang alongside Lorch on Porta Obscura but now takes over as the band’s classical voice. Her development as a vocalist since Porta Obscura is pretty stunning actually, her classical vocals aren’t as powerful as what Carmen was capable of, but when in combination with Mareike’s vocals we’re treated to a stellar vocal delivery. This is the best vocal duo the band has had since their debut album Lux Noctis. If there was a problem with the last couple of albums, it’s that Carmen typical outshone the rock singer, not so much on Porta Obscura but very noticeably so on Fabula Magna, and this is the first time since the debut where the two lead voices have really complemented each other in every possible way. I’m hoping that the line-up stabilises now, because if Terra Incognita is anything to go by, Coronatus is onto a winner.

Coronatus is best described as a gothic metal band, but this doesn’t describe their sound on Terra Incognita with complete accuracy. Specifically the band also incorporates symphonic metal into their sound, although they’re more firmly on the gothic side of the often blurry symphonic/gothic barrier when you take their albums as a whole. Additionally folk sounds creep into their music, and have been increasingly so with every release they put out, so Terra Incognita sees them bringing in even more folk sounds than ever before, though not to the point that folk metal becomes the band’s dominant sound. The folk does crop up enough for me to consider the album more than merely folk influenced as with the last couple of albums however, with it being heard either as little flourishes such as in Fernes Land or as more full out folk metal tracks like Traumzeit. Terra Incognita sounds like more evolved Coronatus because of this. Drawing on the three styles gives their tracks plenty of variety, as does their tendency to switch between German, English and Latin lyrics, although this time not so much the latter.

One thing I question during the album is the use of some faint almost growling vocals as backing in Fernes Lands when it’s the most commercially inclined track that Terra Incognita has to offer the listener, since they add nothing to the track whatsoever. I am personally of the opinion that the ‘metal + commercial = bad’ equation isn’t true, so long as it is done right, and I can’t shake the feeling that the growls (I wouldn’t really call them that, but for want of a better word) are only there to try to take a bit of the track’s commercial nature away, since this is the only time they are used in the album, which for female fronted gothic metal (and also symphonic metal), is nowhere near as commercial as some of the bigger acts in the game such as Sirenia, Lacuna Coil, or Within Temptation, and also generally heavier, although Terra Incognita doesn’t feel as intense in the guitars department as Porta Obscura and Fabula Magna were.

On this note I do kind of feel the need to stress that since Fernes Land is the track which got a music video made for it, and was the track released to promote the album before its release, hearing this track first isn’t getting a very accurate representation of what Terra Incognita is all about. In fact the track is actually mostly written for the band by session musician Simon Hassemer, which may go some way to explain this. Fernes Land is still a good track, taken best with the release as a whole, but the real gems here are tracks such as the somewhat eerie opener Saint Slayer, or really addictive stuff like Hateful Affection and Sie stehen am Weg, not to mention the In Signo Crucis Trilogy that makes up tracks 7 – 9.

The gothic atmospheres are spot on, especially when there’s some piano involved. The folk contrasts with this with some typically happier sounding melodies. Terra Incognita may take a few listens to get into for the existing fan, mainly because despite the excellent vocal team that Ada and Mareike make, Carmen’s absence is most definitely felt here, as there’s no track that really packs the sort of operatic metal punch that past gems like Exitus did. The end result is however quite the addictive listen, and the album was, for me, quickly put into heavy rotation. I do miss Carmen, but overall Terra Incognita stands out in the crowd of female fronted gothic metal albums for me, and is most certainly a return to form for Coronatus after the slightly disappointing Fabula Magna. I’d say that in context of their whole discography so far, Terra Incognita is their second best release, especially on the compositional front.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.3/10)

adg211288 Myrath, a metal band hailing from Tunisia, have really been making a name for themselves within the metal and progressive communities since the release of their debut album Hope in 2007. Although best classed as a progressive metal act, Myrath also includes in their sound many influences from traditional music of Tunisia, which also sees them often included in lists of so called oriental metal acts (or if you’re like me you can just bundle them under the very board term of folk metal). Tales of the Sands is their third album, released in 2011, and it sees them incorporating even more traditional influence into their sound that also includes strong power metal influences.

Listening to this album it’s not hard to hear why there’s been such hype about Myrath. Not only do they know how to make a great metal track with strong riffs, great solos and plenty of punch to get your head banging but their traditional influences really make their sound just that bit more unique within the field. Deep down Myrath takes many cues from Symphony X, in fact the album Hope sounded pretty much like Symphony X homage, but with the group’s second album Desert Call (2010) Myrath began to develop their own identity. Tales of the Sands sees the sound that Desert Call began come into full fruition, and the result is Myrath’s best album yet, an absolutely stunning gem of prog power/folk metal that is also extremely symphonic.

Zaher Zorgati certainly has just the right sort of voice to lift Myrath’s music to great heights. He is one of those singers whose voice has a noticeable accent to it, which works in his favour for the Tunisian flavoured metal. His vocals, though he often displays the capability to do some really great power metal style vocals, such as in the extra catchy chorus of album gem Merciless Times for example, seem more orientated towards the traditional melodies. It’s most definitely the right choice and his vocals complement the music perfectly, but he also knows when to deliver in a more metal orientated way. The variation in his performance is great. Elsewhere on the album there are also some additional female vocals, which are actually the first vocals heard.

The songs on the album are generally short by progressive standards, meaning that Tales of the Sands is most definitely a song based progressive metal album. Myrath included some lengthier compositions on their first couple of releases but the longest track to be found here is just shy of five and a half minutes. Although overall I would say that Tales of the Sands does sacrifice some of the band’s progressiveness of Hope and Desert Call to make way for even more Arabic sounds Tales of the Sands is still most definitely classable as a progressive metal album. The traditional sounds are often used in such a way as to make the music progressive, such as in Wide Shut. There are also some electronic keyboard sounds from Elyes Bouchoucha on occasion, which are in contrast to the atmosphere created by the traditional sounds, but somehow don’t sound out of place.

The way Myrath produces metal anthems such as Merciless Times, Braving the Seas and Under Siege as well as highly progressive tracks like Wide Shut, Requiem for a Goodbye and Beyond the Stars is a clear showcase of just how the band has hit their stride and perfected their sound. Given the strengths of their first two records I was expecting another exceptional release from Myrath, but in Tales of the Sands the guys from Tunisia have given us their first masterpiece. May it be the first of many.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.5/10)

adg211288 Munsalvaesche is the fifth full-length album from German metal act Enid. The album was released in 2011 and is the band’s first release since 2004’s Gradwanderer. Munsalvaesche is mostly the work of musician Martin Wiese, who handles most of the instrumentation and the vocals, while the remainder is performed by session musicians. The album is inspired by the medieval work Parzival, written by Wolfram von Eschenbach.

Although Enid began as a black metal act Munsalvaesche is very far removed from the style. Although most openly symphonic in style, the melodies of the album are straight up medieval influenced folk that is extremely atmospheric and never fails to conjure up images of the past. The vocals, which are mostly in a clean style although there are some growls as well, also fit this mood perfectly, although I have to be honest, this is one case where I could really do without the growls. Sometimes on an album with mostly clean vocals a few growls do a lot of wonders to really spice up a particular section of the music (a good example would be the song Streams by prog metal act Haken), but on Munsalvaesche they feel, unfortunately, unnecessary. I guess the use of the growls allows the album to retain some identity with Enid’s roots, but that’s really as far as their usefulness goes.

It’s actually a fair way into the album before we get to hear any metal since the opening track Red Knight completely forgoes the main genre in favour of an epic medieval flavoured opening performed as an orchestral piece. This track is, funnily enough for a metal album, one of the most epic things about the release, and a stunning opener. I like that it is a full track and not just a fancy introduction which barely lasts any time whatsoever. It’s only when we get a little way into Legends from the Storm that the metal finally kicks in and it fits in with the mood set up by Red Knight well enough, although somehow it did manage to lose a little bit of the really epic nature that the opening track held for me. It is still well composed and performed music though, and I like how Martin Wiese’s vocals become a part of the soundscape while also having memorable lyrical lines. The trouble for me is I could easily have listened to an entire album in the vein of Red Knight quite happily and will a great album all the same, there are very few moments after Red Knight ends that really capture the same level of greatness as said track.

Other highlights of the album appear later in the album and back to back. Both The Journey and Valley Under Two Suns stand as the best songs in the metal style that Munsalvaesche has to offer. Enid really captured the sound perfectly on these two, especially on The Journey which also is as close as the album comes to the atmosphere of Red Knight. All the tracks are good and have their masterful moments, though I would argue that the approach used in Belrapeire doesn’t do the medieval atmosphere any favours and while an interesting track it feels out of place on this particular album, making it the exception to the rule. Ironically when taking it out of context it’s not actually the weakest track on the album, a dubious accolade I have to hand to Condwiramurs, a track that despite being more in keeping with the album’s atmosphere than Belrapeire actually came across as a little boring.

As a whole package though Munsalvaesche is an enjoyable release with a unique take on metal music, but it does suffer ultimately from a little bit of inconsistency, something that is perhaps most evident by how far into the album it is before it gives up its post Red Knight gems. A certain spark is missing in much of the album in other words. This is however quite the intriguing release and I expect that if Enid keeps going down this track in the future we’ll be in for a real treat. For now this is pushing towards being great but does fall short by a small margin. Munsalvaesche is still an album I’d recommend to the listener looking for the more unique sound from the metal genre.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 7.3/10)

adg211288 Lulu is a collaborative double disc studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed (of The Velvet Underground fame) and thrash/heavy metal band Metallica. The music on the album, although principally written by Reed, is more in the heavy metal vein than anything. Although Metallica’s James Hetfield provides vocals on the album he is pretty much a secondary vocalist to Reed, so sometimes it seems that despite the style Lulu is much more of a Lou Reed release than it is a Metallica release, and he just hired Metallica as his backing band. Since this is a metal site this review will be aimed towards Metallica’s fans, although to be honest the album may hold more appeal to Reed’s fanbase all things considered.

Right from the first track, Brandenburg Gate, it’s easily to tell that Lulu isn’t going to be your typical album. Actually scratch that, you know that before you’ve even heard it because of the two distinct musical worlds that are teaming up for the album. On paper Lou Reed and Metallica don’t go together, so really before you’ve even heard this you know that the album is either going to be amazing, or it’s going to make you go running back to St. Anger and beg for forgiveness. So which is it?

Sadly it is most probably the latter. Perhaps in his own field Lou Reed’s vocals work but over Metallica’s heavy metal he just sounds totally out of place. I’d go as far to say that Lulu sounds like heavy metal karaoke when someone’s embarrassing Dad has got up to sing. As harsh as the statement sounds, take a listen to a track like Mistress Dread and you’ll hear exactly what I mean. James Hetfield’s vocals are better but less common than Reed’s. It’s kind of sad to note though that Hetfield actually sounds better in what vocal parts he has here than on Death Magnetic, although admittedly not by much.

Lyrically Lulu is often ridiculous. Single release The View showcases this pretty well, with Hetfield delivering a line that will perhaps ultimately be the most memorable thing on the album, “I am the table!”. I guess it all fits in with the ‘artistic’ nature of the release, but it ultimately makes the album an even more difficult listen. Lulu is most certainly a weird one, and not in any sort of avant-garde sense, since the music actually seems pretty standard, that’s probably because Lulu seems structured so you focus on the lyrics and thus the album’s concept. Bearing in mind that it is a two disc album, with a total running time of around eighty-seven minutes, none of this makes Lulu an exactly exciting listen.

Maybe it is just too much for us mere mortals to really comprehend, but Lulu is one of the most boring albums I have ever come across. By the time the first disc is over (six of the ten tracks, but actually the shorter disc due to the near twenty minute track Junior Dad on disc two) I’m bored out of my tree. Most of the tracks drag on and on with what may just as well have been senseless droning. It doesn’t matter if they are long or short, every track on Lulu suffers from the same problem that they inspire boredom to set in quickly since the music is very repetitive and Reed’s vocals are totally characterless. Very rarely is there even a memorable riff that us metalheads can really sink our teeth into and after the track Iced Honey is over all we’re left with is lengthy tracks of at least eight minutes all the way to the album’s end. Although it seems designed to focus on the concept because it is so boring I actually find this an incredibly difficult thing to do because my attention wanders far too easily so I really have no idea what the hell is going on, although again in line with how repetitive it is I’d like a pound for every time Reed repeats the same lyrics during these lengthy tracks, but even if some cutting down had been done, I think this would still be boring. The album most certainly does not make the most of being a double disc; the ratio of good parts in the music to the drivel is very poor. One disc would have been enough. Two is almost unbearable.

Although I never felt the need to turn Lulu off in disgust I was coming to just wish it would end long before its eventual completion. The album goes beyond being just bad really. It’s dismal, way too drawn out and boring. Lulu is quite easily the worst thing Metallica has put to their name, and yes that includes the infamous St. Anger. Metallica fans, it’s my humble opinion that you can safely avoid Lulu. I’m not so sure about Lou Reed’s fans. I’m not at all familiar with his own work in order to comment on how Reed’s fans may find Lulu, but even taking a moment to consider Lulu as a part of the wider musical landscape it’s still extremely boring. There’s not really anything else that can be said about it, except one this last thing.

I AM THE TABLE!

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 1.0/10, "Utterly Dismal")

adg211288 Sympathetic Resonance is the debut studio album from progressive metal act Arch/Matheos. The band is essentially a getting together of Fates Warning’s guitarist Jim Matheos and former Fates Warning vocalist John Arch, and also features guitarist Frank Aresti, bassist Joey Vera and drummer Bobby Jarzombek, all of whom feature in the current Fates Warning line-up as of the release of Sympathetic Resonance, which means it’s only Arch’s Fates Warning replacement Ray Alder who is not present on Sympathetic Resonance out of the current Fates Warning lineup. I guess in a way this album could be seen as a Fates Warning for 2011 if John Arch had never left.

There are only six tracks on Sympathetic Resonance, so long track times are to be expected. All are over five minutes and half of them pass the ten minute mark, so epic progressive compositions are generally the flavour of the day here. The musicianship is of a high quality all the way, and I’d expect nothing less from a group made up of such seasoned musicians such as this. This is classic progressive metal with a nice focus on the fact that it is heavy metal, you won’t find any symphonic keyboard layers in this music, which is something that is becoming quite common in modern progressive metal albums. I expect the style will not only appeal to the prog crowd but also to traditional and power metal fans.

Vocal wise John Arch puts on a great performance, but I must say I think his vocals will be a required taste (in much the same way Dream Theater’s James LaBrie is), will may alienate some listeners from fully enjoying Sympathetic Resonance. To be honest his tone is not exactly my cup of tea so the album took a lot of listens to really click with me, but I can definitely appreciate Arch’s vocals all the same, although I do still sometimes find myself thinking that, did this album have a different singer, I’d enjoy it a whole lot more, as blasphemous as that statement probably is.

Of course, if that were the case it wouldn’t be Arch/Matheos would it? And of course this is the thing for people who find John Arch’s vocals more to their taste; John Arch hasn’t exactly been active musically since his Fates Warning exit. There was an EP in 2003, but Sympathetic Resonance is the first full-length album Arch has graced since Fates Warning’s Awaken the Guardian in 1986. I can certainly understand the hype surrounding Sympathetic Resonance because of this, and in line with the previous paragraph about the music, if Arch’s style of singing appeals to you then you’ll find Sympathetic Resonance a very rewarding listen. It’s nice to get a high quality progressive metal album that still favours the guitars over a keyboard.

However although a really great album from a collaboration that there is much cause to celebrate that’s all Sympathetic Resonance ultimately is – great but not quite a masterpiece (though it does just about creep into my ‘very exceptional’ scoring range). I feel that it’s the longer songs that really deliver the goods in the most spectacular fashion, those being Neurotically Wired, Stained Glass Sky and Any Given Day (Strangers Like Me). Stained Glass Sky, the longest track, is easily the gem of the album, although Any Given Day gives it a good run for its money. Of the shorter tracks (defining shorter as under ten minutes) Midnight Serenade is the one that I feel is the strongest while if the album has a weak point it’s the eight minute On The Fence, while still pretty good did seem to drag a little for me despite the fact that there are longer songs on the album that the band doesn’t waste a second in.

Sympathetic Resonance is a great release from Arch/Matheos, but it’s probably very true that there is one particular crowd this is going to please first and foremost and that’s Fates Warning’s fanbase. Having never really got into that band I haven’t been caught up in the hype for this album, although after the ultimately positive experience that Sympathetic Resonance is I may have to see about changing that. For the existing Fate’s Warning fan this could very easily be your album of the year but for the rest of us, well, there have been better prog metal albums this year, although bringing us back around to the fact that this is a guitar driven album, I do note the general lack of such prog metal releases once again (in fact looking through the albums I’ve reviewed so from 2011 this may be the only one!) so if the idea of a prog metal album that doesn’t rely on the keyboards appeals to you, then Arch/Matheos’ debut is an album you need to be investigating.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 8.5/10, "Very Exceptional Album")

adg211288 Dystopia is the eleventh studio album (though only the tenth of original material) by US power metal act Iced Earth. The 2011 album is the first release to feature the lead vocals of Stu Block, who also sings in the progressive/melodic death metal act Into Eternity. Stu is the fifth lead singer the band has had within their ever volatile line-up, and he replaces long-time vocalist Matt Barlow, who had returned to the band between 2008 and 2011 after a period where Tim “Ripper” Owens fronted the band. The only album that was made in Barlow’s second tenure with the band was 2008’s The Crucible of Man, which I personally felt was actually one of the band’s weaker releases. Although it was still a pretty solid album, it wasn’t exactly a comeback to the form of albums such as Night of the Stormrider, Burnt Offerings, and Horror show. Iced Earth really has nothing to prove in 2011 despite this since they have a spectacular back catalogue, but one has to wonder if they can survive a second departure from the very popular Barlow, after all a good portion of the band’s so called fanbase was very unforgiving while Tim Owens was in the band.

While some may try to have you believe that Iced Earth without Barlow is not true Iced Earth, as is perhaps most evident by the lower regard to the two albums Tim Owens sang on, but it’s my opinion that Stu Block has really helped to revitalise the classic Iced Earth sound. Not only is Block a very talented singer, but he’s also jumped straight into writing alongside guitarist and band leader Jon Schaffer. He should be more easily received by existing fans of the band than Owens was as his vocals on this album are mostly of the same sort of style as Matt Barlow’s, unlike Owens who had a very different approach to the material. It gets better that this though as Block is also capable of vocals more akin to Owens (you’ll know them when you hear them) himself, and he’s not afraid to use these either. Stu Block is like the best of both worlds of the last couple of Iced Earth releases, the man’s vocals are like Barlow and Owens rolled into one. Stu also uses some more regular melodic singing for the lighter parts of the album. Barlow may be the classic Iced Earth singer, but Stu Block comes very close to stealing his crown with just this single album. Coupled with some of the best songs the band has done for a few years it’s very clear that Iced Earth has risen once again, and they’re to conquer the metal world with Dystopia.

Musically although there was some talk about Dystopia being a back to the roots album for Iced Earth, the album actually has something in common with just about every past release of the band, although overall it’s more in the vein of the Dark Saga – Horror Show era. There is a lot of variation in the music and no one song can really be used to represent the album as a whole. Everything remains within the classic Iced Earth sound, that being mostly within the USPM mould, but with some parts that have more in common with traditional and thrash metal. The track Dark City and Equilibrium in particular scream out the Iron Maiden influence in the band, while Boiling Point and Days of Rage are a pair of shorter and more aggressive numbers which kind of bring mind to the earliest albums by the band. Anthem is more of a catchy track with a clean guitar intro and a sing-along chorus. If you think of past tracks like Melancholy (Holy Martyr) or I Died For You you’re not far off the sound of Anthem. The closer, Tragedy and Triumph, has an intro that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on The Glorious Burden. End of Innocence is a lighter ballad, although they still heavy it up for the chorus, putting it in the same vein as tracks like When the Eagle Cries. The only thing the album really lacks is a long epic track in the vein of Dante’s Inferno (which the band recently re-recorded with Stu and released as a free download), The Coming Curse or The Phantom Opera Ghost. Tragedy and Triumph comes close but some of the 7:44 length is taken up by silence and a hidden track.

Lyrically it is very much like Horror Show in its premise that many of the songs are centred on a single wide topic, but isn’t a concept album in itself. A couple of the tracks (the title track and Tragedy and Triumph) on the album deal directly with the Something Wicked saga, which the band’s last two albums in particular dealt with in full conceptual style, while others deal with dystopian films such as V for Vendetta, Dark City and Soylent Green. Other lyrics do move away from dystopian themes such as End of Innocence, which Stu Block wrote about his mother who has terminal cancer, but such topics fit with the mood of the album.

As seems to be becoming quite common now there are actually multiple versions of Dystopia available. I’m not sure if Dystopia comes under the same deal as albums such as Symphony X’s latest Iconoclast where it’s actually the so called special/limited edition of the release that is as the band intended it, but whether tracks such as Iron Will and Soylent Green were always meant to be bonus tracks or not is beyond the point. Dystopia wouldn’t be a truly complete album if these tracks were absent, as they are on the regular edition of the album. I have to stress having reviewed the limited edition of the album that you would be seriously missing out if you didn’t go with this version, so just ignore the so-called standard version of Dystopia and go for the limited edition. You’ll also get an alternate version of the song Anthem for your money, which is not exactly essential, but still worth a listen.

Normally I don’t take bonus tracks into consideration when scoring an album, and I’m not going to make an exception here because even without Iron Will and Soylent Green Dystopia is still the best Iced Earth album since 2001’s Horror Show ten years previously. Yes you should get the limited edition (or if you’re a real super-fan with some cash floating about, the deluxe box set that contains a number of other Iced Earth goodies), but even the regular edition is worthy of recognition to sit alongside albums such as the aforementioned Horror Show, Night of the Stormrider and Burnt Offerings. The album may be dystopian themed, but based on this, Iced Earth can look forward to a much brighter future than the album’s theme paints.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.6/10, "Masterpiece/Classic Album")

adg211288 The year 2011 has been a really great year for metal music. The number of albums deserving of the highest of accolades released in the year has been great indeed, and there has also been a generally low number of albums that are real stinkers or at the very least disappointments. There have been a few of course, but not many that really were middle of the road or worse, and the ratio between the good and the bad has been heavily tipped in the favour of the good in 2011, so much in fact that I’m thinking there must be something in the water. Naturally one cannot review every metal album released in the year, but of all the 2011 reviews I’ve written the above has been the case, although I have always expected that some weaker releases would crawl out of the woodwork at some point. The one thing I didn’t expect though would be that Motion, the third release from Brazilian metal act Almah (another band of Angra’s Edu Falaschi), would number among these lesser releases of 2011.

The main problem is here is this: Almah has decided to go and partially reinvent their sound for Motion into something of a progressive groove metal style. Previously Almah had been a very good progressive power metal band, with the 2008 album Fragile Equality being a very exceptional release of this style of metal music. I’ve always been open to bands evolving but I repeat: Almah was a very good progressive power metal band. Almah is not a very good progressive groove metal band. It doesn’t help matters that they haven’t entirely left their power metal at the door, resulting in something that sounds a bit of a mess to be brutally honest. The style of the riffs does not complement the lead guitar work for example. This said you’d think that nothing was amiss by the way the album kicks off with Hypnotized which has a melodic intro that sounds set to build up into some quality melodic power metal, but then they throw a curveball with the new style and it all goes down the drain. I’d expect to find some of these riffs in a Pantera or Lamb of God album, not an Almah album.

Edu Falaschi is a good singer. His work prior to Motion is testimony to this. With Motion however he’s really given his credibility some serious damage. Instead of sticking to his strong clean vocals he’s decided to also introduce some more aggressive (I’m not really sure if that’s the best way to describe them, just saying that they’re less melodic may be more accurate) vocals. This isn’t really needed when you have a singer of this calibre in the band, although in his defence it’s at least in keeping with the groove metal inclined riffs. An example of where the vocals are at their most extreme is Zombies Dictator. Edu switches between the styles a lot on this album, which although it does show his versatility it also further showcases how Almah didn’t leave power metal entirely at the door, but dropped it enough so that Motion has a very different flavour to it compared to Fragile Equality and the group’s debut (which was actually released as an Edu Falaschi solo album).

Another major problem with Motion is that it isn’t so much terrible as it is disjointed. There are actually some very good tracks on the album. The trouble is that this is a metal album, so it’s naturally an issue when the ballads sound superior to most of the heavy tracks. The ballads seem much better composed compared to the metal tracks and while this is possibly because they’d sound more fitting to Almah’s old style and thus retain some of the qualities that Almah used to have. There is also a general air of much inferior writing on Motion’s metal tracks to Almah’s first couple of works that new direction aside, makes the album a major disappointment. I can’t even imagine these songs sounding much better in Almah’s old style. The best track here is without a doubt Bullets on the Altar, a track which is more fitting to the Fragile Equality sound of Almah, but much of the album is just downright weak, especially the lead single Trace of Trait. Motion is not completely unlistenable by a long shot, if anything it’s an easy listen, but I really fail to see the bulk of their fanbase of which I consider myself a part of accepting the album with open arms. It’s as if Almah tried to make for themselves a more modern metal sound, but weren’t prepared to go with in fully in order to make a consistent album.

Almah really had something going for them with Fragile Equality and after such an excellent album as it I had really high expectations for its follow up; expectations that Motion has utterly failed to stand up to and if this is any indication of what will follow then I hate to say it but I think this band is in deep trouble. The only thing Motion really succeeds at is to prove that changing your musical direction can indeed be a very bad thing to do, especially if the change isn’t exactly complete as with Motion. Almah may know how to write a ballad, but it’s just not enough for a metal album. I close this review now, feeling nothing but deep sadness at what has happened to the great band that made Fragile Equality. Motion just about scrapes a middle of the road rating from me, since deep down there are some good ideas here, the main problem is that the style changes aren’t in the band’s favour and I feel I should take that into account. The album did also grow on me after a couple of listens, but I ultimately have to remain negative about this one since the band did do some stuff that just didn’t work, and overall it leaves me neither feeling overwhelmingly positive or negative. I suspect this could end up being something of a love/hate release for fans of the band. At least that’s how I’ve come to regard it.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 4.5/10, "Middle of the Road")

adg211288 As a reviewer I think that every so often there comes a time when you feel you’ve given an album a fair go, reviewed it and then later had to go back and revise your opinion. Most times this will be years down the track and suddenly you realise a release wasn’t really as good or as bad as it may have seemed at the time. That isn’t quite the case with me with The Hunter, which is the fifth studio release from the ever-changing US progressive sludge metal band Mastodon, as I’m revising this existing review in the closing days of 2011, the year of the album’s release. The Hunter, being a release from a band that I have followed since their second album Leviathan (2004), was always going to be getting more after review listens than most of the albums I get for review, especially since on my original review I found it an exceptional release. Many listens down the track now, and a couple of months since the review was published I find myself thinking that at a score of 8.8/10 I’d misjudged the album. So now I find myself compelled to return to my review, something that doesn’t happen often, and give it something of an update. We begin proper now.

The Hunter is no exception to Mastodon standard in that it has a very different feel to it to their previous releases, especially their previous album, 2009’s Crack the Skye, while still being unmistakeably the work of the band. The Hunter is full of eyebrow raising track names such as Octopus Has No Friends, All the Heavy Lifting and Bedazzled Fingernails, and contains many of Mastodon’s weirdest compositions to date. It also sees drummer Brann Dailor handling some lead vocals again, like he did on Crack the Skye’s opener Oblivion. He gets to sing a full song this time, the quirky Creature Lives.

Compared to Crack the Skye, The Hunter’s tracks are generally shorter with only the title track and closer The Sparrow passing the five minute mark. Naturally this means there’s also a lot more of them than on Crack the Skye, thirteen in all. Despite this, and also despite the fact that Crack the Skye is widely seen as Mastodon’s most progressive release, I actually think the progressive sounds on The Hunter are actually much more common, if less obvious than on Crack the Skye, the only track from which I felt was truly progressive being The Last Baron. On The Hunter we’ve got progressive sounds in several places, although it’s the second half of the album that is the most progressive, since the first three tracks in particular are riff based affairs, short and to the point. A couple of parts later in the album are firmly in spacey territory though, with obvious influence from Pink Floyd. For the most part though The Hunter is still best considered a sludge metal album since most of the tracks here are very riff based, in fact All the Heavy Lifting should probably be renamed as All the Heavy Riffing. Coincidently I think that this is the best track on the album. The track gives new meaning to the term ‘huge chorus’ and is one of the best tracks Mastodon has ever recorded. The album also goes into Stoner Metal territory, particularly with Curl of the Burl, a track seemingly about the murder of a goat.

Vocally Mastodon once again sticks to mostly clean vocals. There’s a bit of their old screaming style from Brent Hinds in Blasteroid and Scott Kelly of Neurosis also provides some harsher vocals in his traditional guest slot during Spectrelight, but otherwise the vocals from Brent, Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor remain in the same vein as Crack the Skye. This is most definitely a good thing as Brent and Troy both have stronger clean vocals, and if there was ever a problem with Mastodon’s earliest releases, it was the vocals, even though they were fitting to the sludge metal style. It’s also nice to hear more vocals from Brann, and although he’s still the minority vocal contributor on The Hunter of Mastodon’s three lead vocalists, he provides a high quality performance that makes me wish he sang even more on the album.

The Hunter is most certainly another high quality release from Mastodon with plenty of great tracks and much variation between them. It’s their most varied album really, forming a nice stylistic bridge between albums as Remission and Leviathan with Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye. It has a great mix of heavy riffing and progressive atmospherics and is most definitely an album that every Mastodon fan should be adding to their collection, and I also suspect that fans of a wide range of metal and rock genres will find something to like on The Hunter. As far as I’m concerned it tops everything the band has done so far to become their best album yet. It is absolutely essential, so go get it, and pursue happiness with diligence.

adg211288 Towards the Megalith is the debut album from US death metal act Disma. It was released in 2011 and features eight tracks of doom influenced death metal (but I wouldn’t call it actual death/doom by a long shot), and is presented in an old school vein that makes the album sound incredibly evil. There is no better way to describe the sort of sound that Disma is dishing up here. It’s just pure unadulterated evil.

This is however the sort of album that once you know what to expect you won’t find any surprises as it goes on. Each track is presented in the similar vein of none too polished production, doom tinged death metal riffs and an incredibly powerful growl. Disma has a good death metal sound though, so this is okay, but it is worth noting that the release does get a little samey, although there are plenty of great riffs on offer that more than makes up for it. Towards the Megalith is clearly an album aimed at a certain type of death metal fan is this respect, and I think that it does a good enough job, but I’d like a bit more identity between the tracks at the end of the day.

This does also mean that it’s a struggle to find the words to form of review of this album. The album is a solid enough listening experience but describing one track is like describing them all. There are no surprises to be found within it after you’ve had the opening track Chaos Apparition in other words. That is ultimately why I’m going to keep this review relatively short and say that this is a good album, but it could be better. Fans of the more evil sounding death metal (as opposed to say more polished death metal sounds as much modern death metal is) should find something to like here. For the rest of us though Disma has a fair bit of a way to go yet. Still for a debut album this really isn’t bad at all, and shows the group’s clear potential. Most certainly an act to be keeping an eye on.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 6.6/10, "Pretty Good, but Could be Better")

adg211288 Break the Silence is the fourth studio album from so called a cappella power metal act Van Canto. There’s not much really to say in this introductory paragraph except to say or those who have missed this band in the past is that it’s basically five singers and a drummer, the presence of whom technically makes Van Canto not a true a cappella act, which requires the use of no instruments whatsoever. While two of the singers actually sing lead vocals, the other three imitate the typical metal instrumentation with their voices. There is actually some additional real instrumentation other than the drums on this album though, such as in the track Spelled in Waters.

Thinking about it in terms of being ‘on paper’ Van Canto sounds like a novelty or a gimmicky act right? Well in my opinion it would be true if Van Canto had done this for just the one (or maybe two at the most) albums. But Break the Silence is their fourth, which tells me that they’re actually pretty serious about this. There has never been a really great Van Canto album and this is no exception to that rule. In fact in their past three works with the exception of perhaps the odd track the only thing really interesting I found about them was the a cappella takes on classic metal tracks such as Metallica’s Battery, Nightwish’s Wishmaster or Blind Guardian’s The Bard’s Song: In The Forest. I always found their original material mostly lacking, and there is no improvement on this front on this album. It is more of the same, and more of the same would be getting beyond a joke if it was one.

Stylistically this has all the power metal style melody as a normal band would, and both the male and the female lead singer do actually have pretty great voices, but after a few tracks of the so called Rakkatakka vocals from the ‘instrumental singers’ any passing appeal that the music has goes away to be replaced by nothing but annoyance, mostly because of the fact that Break the Silence could actually be passable power metal record if they just dropped this a cappella stuff and actually found a guitarist and a bassist. It is just not entertaining anymore, sorry to say, not after four albums, and matters are made worse by the fact that what covers there are not really as of note than some of their previous, which doesn’t give the album as much interest on that front as the first three.

The only real surprises on Break the Silence are the aforementioned Spelled in Waters and also Master of the Wind. These are ballads, and are notable for not being a cappella. Spelled in Waters uses an actual guitar (played by Blind Guardian’s Marcus Siepen) as its music while Master of the Wind has some piano, but this is not enough to save the album from sounding like a boring novelty release. Additionally a cappella stuff aside this is an extremely typical power metal record that I’d even go as far to call generic, and if I want to hear this sort of thing then I’ll go for something with actual instrumentation throughout. The songs are mostly lyrically commercial as well, nothing new for power metal there really but as I said, if I want this there are countless bands who do it better with instruments and therefore might actually have some interesting riffs.

Credit where credit is due, the Rakkatakka vocals do have the metal rhythms done reasonably well, even though the release understandably lacks true heaviness, and these three guys definitely have a talent to pull this off, but try as I might, I cannot shake the image of them appearing on a reality TV show in the vein of Britain’s Got Talent.

Maybe I just don’t get them, but I see little of interest in what essentially sounds like a band that wants to play power metal but only their drummer could afford to buy his instrument. Van Canto are certainly right up there for being different but as Break the Silence proves that isn’t always a good thing. This would be entertaining were the band really not over-doing this a cappella stuff but really it’s getting rather ridiculous now as of this fourth album. There is little really to offer the more demanding listener on this album. It might give you a few smiles, but none of them will be as big as those given by the earlier releases, especially the 2008 album Hero, which at least has a stronger repertoire of covers to entertain with, as well as some pretty decent original material. Overall Break the Silence is listenable if somewhat embarrassing and its Van Canto’s weakest album yet in a run of poor to mediocre releases. It’s also a problem when the best track in the overall package, A Storm to Come, is a bonus track are therefore does not factor into the score given.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 2.0/10, "Very Bad")

adg211288 Anubis Gate is the self-titled fifth album release from Danish metal act Anubis Gate. The album was released in 2011 and is the first album to feature a four piece line-up of the band following the unexpected departure of vocalist Jacob Hansen, who sang on their prior two albums, Andromeda Unchained (2007) and The Detached (2009). Bassist Henrik Fevre has taken over vocal duties full-time now, after having the odd section of lead vocals on past albums (Take Me Home being a notable track) and having filled in live in between the time the band parted ways with original vocalist Torben Askholm and Hansen’s full-time induction. Fevre is definitely the logical choice for the band, being pretty much the central figure in the line-up despite not being an original member. The rest of the line-up remains unchanged with guitarists Kim Olesen and Jesper M. Jensen and drummer Morten Sørensen. Jacob Hansen remains involved behind the scenes however, co-producing the album with Kim Olesen, as well as mixing and mastering it. In a sense he’s simply returned to the role he held with the band prior to Andromeda Unchained. As Hansen only left during the recording process of the album he still has a handful of writing credits to his name however.

Anubis Gate is widely considered to be a part of the progressive power metal style, but like with their last couple of offerings the album has a lot more to do with progressive metal than it does with power metal. This is probably best considered as being melodic progressive metal, rather than anything to do with power metal even. To be honest I don’t get a lot of a power metal feel from this music. It’s worth noting here that Anubis Gate is the band’s most progressive album to date, although this only becomes apparent a few tracks into the album when the eight minute World In A Dome kicks in, and is most noticeable in some of the later tracks. One thing you’ll note as well though is how the tracks have different feels and styles going on, adds some small additional layers of progressive influence in that they don’t stick to any tried and tested templates. Each track has its own identity if you will.

Now I really feel that Anubis Gate has a tough act to follow with this album. They set their own bar really high with Andromeda Unchained, and then proceeded to set it as high as it can go with their flawless fourth album The Detached. The way I see it some bands can make several albums of the highest calibre in their career, such as Iron Maiden, while some only manage one or perhaps two masterpieces, while others remain strong and consistent but never really deliver a true gem. Some artists within the first category can even do them one after the other. Anubis Gate is one of the few artists I’m aware of that fits into this small and exclusive group, and as of this album they prove that they can certainly do it in style.

Henrik’s Fevre’s vocals on the album don’t sound so far removed from Jacob Hansen’s style, which is definitely a good thing, as his style was really fitting to Anubis Gate’s brand of progressive metal. Naturally he has his own tone to his voice but it’s not hard to imagine this material with Hansen, or the prior Hansen material with Fevre. Jacob Hansen leaving was originally a great disappointment to me when I heard the news, but Henrik slips into the dual bass/vocalist role with total ease, delivering a faultless and varied performance throughout. If there were any doubts about Henrik fronting the band before then he destroys them all with this performance. I have to be honest I did have a few, mostly because of his lead vocal contributions on previous albums weren’t really as good as the actual lead singer’s in my opinion, or indeed as good as they are on this album for that matter. But yes, doubts utterly destroyed in this case.

This is a more song based album throughout than the Hansen fronted albums. That means no introduction or outro tracks, or any interludes. The album kicks off with the seven minute Hold Back Tomorrow. This reminds me a lot of Find a Way (or Make One) from The Detached in the way that it follows what appears to be a standard verse-chorus song structure, but vary the way they deliver the chorus, albeit less so than on Find a Way. So there are some aspects of repeating themselves on Anubis Gate, but it’s just as good song that they can be forgiven for it, especially since the album as the whole introduces some approaches new to the band and the album does in general, such as some electronic sounds, which to my surprise works to great effect (usually for me metal plus electronic stuff is a no go), and overall the album has its own feel to it in much the same way as their past few albums did, which also includes A Perfect Forever (2005) and to a slightly lesser extent their debut album Purification (2004). It doesn’t feel like a prior album re-worked in other words.

The use of keyboards (which are mostly handled by Kim Olesen) seems to have taken a different role in Anubis Gate’s sound on this album, with some parts even pushing into symphonic territory. As if in answer to that the album also has several parts where the intensity of the guitars of Kim Olesen and Jesper M. Jensen has been turned up to eleven, such as in Desiderio Omnibus, which also features some very impressive lead work, and is one of their heaviest tracks to date, in fact this is easily their heaviest album to date despite the sense of melody on display. To further add to the variety of the album they also include Golden Days, a track which pushes commercial boundaries but works well in the context of a melodic progressive metal album, and also the mid-paced The Re-Formation Show, which showcases a slightly more laid back Anubis Gate but of course no less interesting and not to forget the mostly instrumental River.

As per usual for Anubis Gate the album treads the line between being progressive and being accessible. Anubis Gate isn’t going to wow you with the sort of lengthy and technical compositions in the manner of acts like Dream Theater, but neither is their music only really flirting with progressive tendencies, such as with Evergrey. Instead they find a balance between the two, and their song based progressive metal sounds extremely powerful on this album, which also comes complete with a professional production that showcases the music to great effect. I’d expect nothing less of a Jacob Hansen production.

The only thing I really dislike about the album is the way the otherwise excellent track Oh My Precious Life abruptly ends. It feels like part of the song is missing when this happens. This said it doesn’t really bother me enough for it to deduct from my overall listening experience and I did get used to it after I’d heard the track a couple of times, but I do feel obligated to at least mention it. It’s the only negative thing I have to say for this release; otherwise I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Even with masterpiece albums there may be a couple of little niggles to be found within it, and for me this is the one niggle on Anubis Gate, and to be honest it’s one that is quickly forgotten about, and that’s probably because they get me caught up in the lyrical hooks of Golden Days right after it that I find myself more inclined to sing along with the chorus than to worry about the sudden cut off of the previous track.

So other than this little niggle though Anubis Gate simply represents that this is a band that are not only still at the top of their game after two masterpieces, but they fully deserve recognition as being one of the finest modern progressive metal acts around at the moment. Not many albums are worth a truly perfectly score. The Detached was one of them...and this is too, since as I said, the little blip that was Oh My Precious Life’s sudden end doesn’t really deduct from my listening experience. That makes Anubis Gate in my opinion the band’s second truly perfect album in a row. I love this band, but I wasn’t expecting that. I was expecting perhaps still in the same tier of excellence, but not perfect. I mean come on, two perfect albums in a row is too good to be true right? The album is however just as good as The Detached and deserves to be acknowledged as such. I guess if I was feeling harsh I could deduct a marginal point (0.1/10 at most) from my final rating for the one blip, but this is the best album I’ve heard from its year, and 2011 has been an extremely strong year for metal music, especially progressive metal, and even with new releases from prog metal giants Dream Theater and Opeth, Anubis Gate is the one standing on top of the pile. Even such a minimal point deduction would be too harsh for this album. Pat yourselves on the back guys, you’ve really delivered the goods here, these really are your golden days.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 10.0/10, "Masterpiece/Classic Album")

adg211288 Heritage is the tenth album from Swedish extreme progressive metal act Opeth. Or rather it’s the tenth album from the once extreme progressive metal act Opeth, as Heritage sees the band moving forward (or maybe that should be backwards), into more of a retro 70’s progressive rock sound, although it still has some metal touches and often some folk and jazz ones as well. It’s a much lighter and completely death growl free Opeth, but the album is certainly not Damnation part II. The album was released in 2011, ending the longest gap between the band’s studio albums to date. It is also the final album to feature keyboardist Per Wiberg, who parted ways with Opeth prior to the album’s release. You’ll notice that on the artwork with the band’s heads on the tree his is falling off to represent this.

Opeth has in my opinion always has a sound that was instantly recognisable as them, even on their previous ‘different’ album Damnation. Heritage therefore comes across as their attempt to break their own mould. Personally I don’t think they quite managed it, although they’ve certainly put a good crack in it all the same. Allow me to clarify further; there are still some sounds here that sound very much like the Opeth I know, but there are also a lot of sounds coming out of the band that I have never heard from them before, more than the sounds I know even, but after getting over the shock of the new direction it’s not too hard to hear some typical Opethian ideas during Heritage. It still sounds and feels like Opeth.

Heritage is easily Opeth’s most progressive album to date. They’ve always been progressive, being at the forefront of the extreme progressive metal movement, but here they’ve given their progressive nature centre focus over their metal side. There isn’t actually that much to do with metal on the album, although overall I do think it can still be classed as such...just, there are many tracks that aren’t metal at all, while those that are only just hit borderline territory. This means that if all you want to hear is their extreme progressive metal of previous releases you’ll be wasting your time with Heritage and can stop reading here safe in the knowledge that Heritage won’t be an album for you. But if you’re interested in what is Opeth’s most unique sounding album to date, then read on.

What’s most notable about Heritage is that the songs have a very different feel to each other, in contrast to earlier Opeth albums where apart from perhaps the odd ballad in the Damnation vein or close enough to it as to not make much of a difference the songs could be considered as being typical for the band. The prior album Watershed could be considered something of an exception to that rule as well as the first step towards Heritage with its major cutting down of Mikael Åkerfeldt’s growls and inclusion of pieces such as Coil and Burden along with more typical Opeth tracks like The Lotus Eater and what I personally consider to be one of their most death metal orientated tracks in Heir Apparent. On Heritage we’re treated to tracks that sound very different to each other, such as the fairly heavy The Devil’s Orchard, the rocky and then suddenly folksy Slither (a tribute to the late Ronnie James Dio), the flute drenched Famine and the beautiful vocal lines in the mostly instrumental Nepenthe. The album is also bookended by a couple of instrumentals, the piano title track piece to open up and the excellent closer Marrow of the Earth.

Heritage is a difficult album to really get into. I feel pretty safe in saying that it takes a lot of listens to really understand and appreciate it, more so than any other Opeth release, even the mellow Damnation. For a long time I just didn’t know what to really make of the album and because of that I’ve given Heritage a lot more listens than I do most albums before reviewing them. It doesn’t matter whether you have an interest in reviewing or not, I’d recommend doing the same before passing any judgement on Heritage. If you’re still reading this review hopefully that means you are actually interested in the direction Opeth has taken here (if you haven’t I did say you could stop reading a couple of paragraphs ago), so my advice is that if it doesn’t manage to click straight away (which it has a good chance not to in my opinion), to have a lot of patience and keep listening to it.

Even if it doesn’t totally click with you at first, I don’t think you’ll hate it either, I certainly didn’t, but neither did I regard it half as highly as I have come to after extensive listening. That’s why I’m glad I’ve given Heritage some intensive listening time. I’ve come to really appreciate the album as Opeth’s most unique release to date. Not their best release you must understand, but it’s most definitely their most unique. As started earlier Opeth have really tried to break their mould here and it’s mostly a success, in fact it may even be fairer to say it’s been a total success, as I do actually like the music retaining some identity to their past works. It just remains to be seen at this point whether they’ll (and yeah by that I mean Mikael Åkerfeldt) repair the mould they just put a major crack in, or break this one all the way and end up in an entirely new mould. Or perhaps neither. If there’s one thing Heritage proves it’s that Opeth isn’t a one trick pony (to be honest I knew that already, but now there can be no doubt), and after this I’m not really going to know what to expect from them in the future.

So ultimately how does one go about grading an album like Heritage? For the extreme metal fan this album scores literally nothing, but for the progressive fan this is potentially an absolute gem of an album. I have to be fair even now this is not my favourite Opeth album (it’s not my least favourite either though, far from it actually), and I can’t say I prefer this style over their typical which is why, like with Damnation, I’d like this album to be a one off in their discography, but as stated above, they could really go anywhere after this, which does give me a few concerns. For what it is I actually think that Heritage is a really great album and like most of Opeth’s work it’s very masterfully done and full of exceptional material. It wouldn’t be right to not give this a very high score, but it is worth noting that it is rated solely from the perspective of the prog fan rather than the extreme metal fan, which I think is the only fair way to rate Heritage, much like Damnation in that respect. Based on this I have to say that Heritage may not quite stand with this very good year’s best albums, it does only just fall short.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.4/10, "Very Exceptional Album")

adg211288 A Dramatic Turn of Events is the aptly but perhaps also slightly inappropriately titled eleventh album from US progressive metal giants Dream Theater. The 2011 album is the first release from the band to not feature drummer Mike Portnoy, who parted ways with Dream Theater on lets be fair, not so good terms, making this the first Dream Theater album not to feature the same line-up as the last one since their 1999 masterpiece Metropolis pt. 2: “Scenes from a Memory”. Portnoy is replaced here by Mike Mangini, who certainly has the skills to replace a talent like Portnoy behind the kit, but on this album Mangini is just a drummer, he contributes no writing to the album like Portnoy did.

A Dramatic Turn of Events is mostly a John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess penned affair, but James LaBrie and John Myung have contributed to the writing more than they have in recent years, with Myung having lyric credits for the first time since Metropolis Pt. 2, and LaBrie featuring writing credits again after a total lack on the prior Black Clouds & Silver Linings album (2009). The material that they have come up with varies in style from ten plus minute epics, and some shorter tracks, the shortest being the ballad Far From Heaven. There are nine songs in all with a total playing time of just over a whopping seventy-seven minutes. In this respect not much has changed for Dream Theater, they’re still giving you the quantity, and naturally, the quality as well.

Recent Dream Theater albums have been going down a ‘heavy as possible’ route, and have even featured some harsher vocals (from Portnoy) alongside James LaBrie. With Portnoy out of the picture we’re back to just James, which ultimately can only be a good thing, as at the end of the day Portnoy’s vocals in Dream Theater did leave something to be desired, despite the fact the man can actually sing really well (check out some of his vocal stuff with Transatlantic for evidence), and James LaBrie puts on a top of his game performance on this album. I dare say this is the best that LaBrie has sounded in years. Hang on, I said that in my review for Black Clouds & Silver Linings as well...just goes to show that LaBrie seems to get better and better with every album released.

While A Dramatic Turn of Events is still a pretty heavy album, it also differs from the last couple of albums by the band because it’s got more leanings towards albums such as Images and Words, finding something of a balance between being extremely progressive and being heavy. John Petrucci’s guitar playing is spot on as always and Jordan Rudess’ keyboards have a noticeably larger role in Dream Theater’s sound, with parts of the album even having a symphonic sound to them.

A Dramatic Turn of Events has done the opposite with me compared to Dream Theater’s previous album Black Clouds & Silver Linings. I loved that album right from the off, but over time I didn’t regard it quite so highly. This one on the other hand sounded somewhat patchy at first listen, but started to grow on me after I’d given it a few more listens, although even now it’s still the tracks that I really dug straight away that stand out as the album’s highlights. This pretty much means the bulk of the epics, especially Lost Not Forgotten, Breaking All Illusions and Bridges in the Sky, which includes what is possibly Dream Theater’s weirdness introduction ever, which also closes the track. This track was originally known as The Shaman’s Trance and listening to this it’s not hard to understand why. It’s almost a shame that they changed the name of this one, and Bridges in the Sky as a title doesn’t let you know so well just what it is meant to be going on. The track is a real belter though, with some really amazing instrumental work.

Despite being a well balanced album, and a nice nod back to the more progressively influenced sound of Dream Theater, at the end of the day A Dramatic Turn of Events is still a metal album, and I personally think that for a metal album there’s a bit too much focus on the balladry on this album. This is the Life is the first such track, and although it gets going and features some great and emotive lead guitar from Petrucci, it’s the first of three ballad pieces, which also includes Far From Heaven and Beneath the Surface. Now all these tracks are incredibly well crafted, in fact they’re pretty much unfaultable, but I do feel it is worth mentioning just how much time on this album is given over to balladry. Of course this fits well with the more progressive rock leanings of the album in general, but as I say, A Dramatic Turn of Events is still a metal album, and from a neutral perspective I feel obliged to point out that the amount of balladry here may not be to the complete appeal to Dream Theater’s metal fans, especially those who have been big fans of the last couple of albums. Fans who are more into them through progressive rock on the other hand will lap them up I expect. And fans such as myself who like both styles of Dream Theater I suspect will be like me, and couldn’t care less, in fact I think that of the shorter tracks on the album Beneath the Surface is easily the best. And for the record when I say shorter, I mean less than ten minutes since it’s only Far From Heaven that is under five.

If I had to evaluate this album briefly (which as you can see is not happening with this review, you’re getting a book), it would be to say that the album is a grower. This maybe because it’s quite a jump in sound from Systematic Chaos (an album I don’t really see as so much progressive as it is technical) and Black Clouds. Black Clouds in my opinion, although it hasn’t weathered quite as well as I thought it would, is still for me one of Dream Theater’s best albums, being only just short of Metropolis pt. 2 and Images and Words. In line with my opinion that A Dramatic Turn of Events is a grower, at first I actually had this down with the weaker albums in their discography, namely Falling into Infinity and to a lesser extent Awake and When Dream and Day Unite. Now however, several listens down the track, this album sits just as comfortably with the best of Dream Theater as my all time favourites by the band, and I suspect that if given the proper time many who may be disappointed with it at first may come to think the same.

I have to admit that I did have my concerns with Mike Portnoy leaving, but A Dramatic Turn of Events proves that these concerns were ill founded and ultimately I’m just glad that Dream Theater finished the Alcoholics Anonymous suite before they parted with him, as the thought of Adrenaline Mob finishing it just leaves me cold. I like Mike Portnoy, but after hearing this album I can’t help feeling that him leaving Dream Theater is for the best. This is easily Dream Theater’s most consistent album for many years and features some of their very best songs. All in all A Dramatic Turn of Events must surely signal the start of a new epic chapter for Dream Theater. An improvement on the already really good Black Clouds & Silver Linings, I may even go as far as to say that this is Dream Theater’s second best album. It’s not quite up there at the same level of Metropolis pt. 2, but it’s certainly the closest they’ve ever come. As they say as one door closes another opens and the door to the Portnoy days has just closed, and after this the one that’s opened could well lead to their next Metropolis.

Special editions of the album also include a second disc which features the whole thing as an instrumental, just the same as was done with Black Clouds & Silver Linings. Like with that album I have little to no interest in this personally, but I guess if you’re in the camp that dislikes James LaBrie then this will be for you; however I find the inclusion of this to be largely unnecessary.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.3/10 - "Very Exceptional Album")

adg211288 Xullux is the debut full-length album from Slovenian black metal act Nephrolith. The 2011 album is the second overall release from the band, following the 2009 demo Vinsketh. There are twelve tracks on the album, three of which serve as an intro, interlude, and outro respectively. The interlude appears between the two part track Abandoned Essence.

Nephrolith’s music sits comfortably within the melodic side of the black metal genre. That means a sound that you instinctively know is black metal when you hear it, but it’s also a sound that is a lot more polished and professional on the production front than particularly the genre’s earlier bands such as Darkthrone, which means that this is a brand of black metal that lacks the cold atmosphere that is often associated with the genre, although it still retains a somewhat dark appeal to it, which is something you can hear straight away in the suitably creepy introduction track Alpha, but also in some of the melodic parts which can be considered melancholic at times.

This lack of the cold black metal atmosphere is naturally probably going to mean that Nephrolith’s music won’t hold much appeal to the black metal elite. The band’s take on black metal is a lot more accessible, but in the bigger picture this is definitely a good thing, as Nephrolith don’t go down any minimalistic routes either, and their music not only includes black metal styled riffs and black metal growls, but also use of classically inspired acoustic guitar parts, which I think sound really great on this release. This is first heard towards the end of the first proper song, Spiritual Departure, and crops up in several places throughout Xullux, adding a nice touch to the compositions that I definitely wasn’t expecting. Their music is otherwise very melodic even in their heaviest sections, and there are many interesting lead guitar melodies and solos on offer. A couple of their melodies even come across as slightly folksy, such as in the title track and The Tale of the Conquering Dusk. The songs are well crafted and each has its own identity, which makes the album flow really well without a trace of boredom setting in.

While Xullux is all in all a highly consistent album, if there’s one fault to be found in it it’s that there is the odd moment where the vocals sound a bit forced and therefore don’t work as well as they usually do. Other than these moments they are otherwise spot on for this sort of release. Fortunately this doesn’t happen often enough that it’s too much of a big deal and I mostly like the vocal performance here, since it’s not too difficult to hear the lyrics. If there’s one type of black metal I hate it’s the sort where the band bashes their instruments as fast as possible in repetitive patterns with a lo-fi production and you can’t at least understand the lyrics. Nephrolith’s Xullux represents the opposite of that, and overall Xullux is certainly one of the best melodic black metal albums I’ve heard.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 8.6/10 "Very Exceptional Album")

adg211288 Storm Seeker is the debut solo album from Norwegian musician ICS Vortex (real name Simen Hestnæs), who has made a name for himself most notably as a member of the acts Dimmu Borgir, Borknagar and Arcturus. Storm Seeker was released in 2011 and features Vortex handling most of the duties himself aside from the drums which are handled by his former Borknagar bandmate Asgeir Mickelson. Susperia guitarist Cyrus also provides some additional lead guitar while Arne Martinussen provides some piano and Hammond organ.

Storm Seeker is one of those albums I got off slightly on the wrong foot with due to being led to believe that it was a black metal album. It’s certainly listed as such on every online metal resource I looked at prior to publishing this review but when I listened to it I was surprised to discover that Storm Seeker isn’t a black metal album at all. The sound of the guitars is kind of pushing towards a melodic black metal sound but that’s about as far as Storm Seeker goes towards being a black metal album. There are no black metal style vocals in the album with Vortex sticking to his clean vocals throughout, and what a performance on his part it is too. This is actually the very best I have ever heard him sing. But anyway with the little note about how badly this has been categorised out of the way, let’s more onto the music.

The sound here despite some minimal black metal leanings in those guitars is perhaps best considered a form of melodic metal. It doesn’t exactly have the feel that I’d normally associate with traditional metal, but it’s a somewhat difficult album to accurately pigeonhole, so I guess melodic heavy metal serves here. The album certainly has leanings towards progressive metal or perhaps even avant-garde metal, but none of that is so glaringly obvious when listening to it. In fact I’d say most of the album sounds like things are being played safe, with nearly every track in the same or similar style.

To be honest I’m not actually half as impressed by the actual music as I am with Vortex’s vocals. His compositions certainly serve to highlight his top notch vocal ability, but don’t have that many standout points of their own. The only real surprise on the compositional front is the closing track The Sub Mariner, which really breaks away from the template of the album in that it’s instrumental and not remotely metal. The music doesn’t exactly wow in any way, although I can appreciate the way it allows the vocals to soar. In general this is certainly as close to a vocal album as metal music really gets.

So yes, the vocals are the true highlight of the album, but with a voice as powerful as Vortex’s I really would have liked the music to carry some additional punch to it than what Storm Seeker ultimately offers the listener. This is certainly a mostly positive experience, but ultimately doesn’t stand up to the expectations that I had for the album. A “good but could be better” rating is deserved in this case, but I still think the album is worth picking up for fans of Vortex’s vocals.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 7.3/10)

adg211288 Dawn of Infinity is the second album by UK metal act Dark Forest. The 2011 album is the first full-length to feature the vocals of new singer Will Lowry-Scott, who replaced the self-titled debut’s vocalist Christian Horton for the 2009 EP Defender. Horton remains with the group as a guitarist however. There are several bands with the Dark Forest moniker, so this one should not be confused with a number of black metal artists that share the name, most notably the Canadian act that released the 2006 album Aurora Borealis. This Dark Forest is planted firmly on the fine line between traditional heavy and power metal, and their love of the 80’s is very evident on Dawn of Infinity, just as it was on the 2009 debut.

Dark Forest’s debut was a good album. This is better, and Will Lowry-Scott is the main reason for that. Although Lowry-Scott was actually introduced with Defender, it is here where he really establishes his place within the band. While Christian Horton carried the debut well enough bringing in a new singer was clearly the right way to go for Dark Forest, as their retro sounding heavy/power metal sound remains, but topped off with stronger vocals that fit right into the sound the band has been going for, makes Dawn of Infinity a real treat to listen to. This is one of those albums that against all expectations just comes out of nowhere to upset the albums you’d previously considered the best of their year.

A major different between Dawn of Infinity and the self-titled debut is that the few folk influences that cropped up on the album (in the track Dark Forest for example), seem to have been dropped. This isn’t really a good or a bad thing, but it is worth noted regardless that the lack of them allows the album to rock out from start to finish and on that note the sound really grabs you with its classic riffs and melodic leads, and the songs have some great lyrical hooks to get you singing along in much the same way that a classic Iron Maiden track does, and why not, because the album has a sound that makes you think it could have been recorded at the same time. Their love of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal is pretty evident here, but there is more than a little nod towards Maiden. They’re no clone act though, even if they do wear their influences proudly on their sleeves. Dark Forest may not really bring anything new to the table, but with an album such as this that was never really the intention, and as it goes Dawn of Infinity is just as good as many albums from the era the band evidently worships.

It’s only when an album as old school as this comes along that one really realises how polished modern heavy and power metal has become. Don’t get me wrong, modern bands can produce some really amazing music, but there’s an extra level of honest passion in the music of Dark Forest that I just don’t detect in some overproduced artists music, and the release is still professionally done in that they’ve intentionally gone for this sort of sound, and nailed it perfectly.

With songs such as Hourglass, Lightyears On, The Stars My Destination (which appears to be based on the classic science fiction novel of the same name by Alfred Bester), and the amazing closer Deadly Premonition I dare to say that Dawn of Infinity is potentially the best heavy/power metal album of the year. I cannot recommend it enough.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.9/10)

adg211288 Expulse is the second album release from Russian one man black metal act Stielas Storhett. The 2011 features seven tracks of avant-garde inclined melodic black metal. That means plenty of acoustic guitars, melodic leads and even some saxophone. The project is all the work of musician Damian T.G. It is the first album release since the 2006 debut Vandrer... although Stielas Storhett has been far from quiet in the time since the debut, releasing a split and an EP in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

Though the album has avant-garde leanings the music doesn’t have any massive amounts of downright weirdness, in fact it’s got a lot of clarity in its direction. This is far from typical black metal either although the approach to the black metal in it should definitely appeal to even the more die hard black metal fans through use of really tortured vocals and a professional yet still somewhat raw and atmospheric production.

Opening with the sounds of a woman screaming and some really dark tones, the album really throws you off what to expect when almost straight away it strips everything else back to make way for the acoustic guitar. Brief as this little passage is, it’s a good indicator that Expulse is going to be far from a predictable and generic package. There are plenty of eyebrow raising moments throughout the album when the music switches from pretty harsh black metal to something more melodic, with another noteworthy case being when the saxophone is brought out in the final two tracks, Expulse, and Angel of Death.

The vocals aren’t the most decipherable I’ve ever heard, since Damian T.G. is in possession of a tortured black metal growl as mentioned above, but sometimes he switches to a cleaner whisper like vocal style. I can’t really understand a word that comes out of his mouth even then, but that’s okay, since the vocal is used here not so much for singing along as in more mainstream musical styles, even metal ones, but like another instrument, and one that really adds to Expulse’s dark atmosphere. All Paths Lead to Oblivion is a track that showcases all the really great aspects of the album, which also includes use of melodic guitar leads and often very prominent bass guitar.

The lighter material in the album, something also showcased in All Paths Lead to Oblivion, is of an equal quality to the metal, and the acoustic guitar playing is actually one of the biggest highlights of the release, as it manages to give Damian T.G.’s compositions much more depth than they would if he were content to thrash away with his black metal riffs and shrieked vocals. The track Hush-a-bye is the shortest piece on the album and another excellent melodic interlude that really shows how dark the atmosphere is even when there isn’t much metal involved (the track is about three quarters of the way in before any metal starts building up again).

Expulse is a really great album from Stielas Storhett. Because of its nature it took me a few listens to really appreciate it, but having given it several listens I find that what we have here is no less than masterful and more unique sounding black metal than what many acts routinely deliver. Expulse comes very highly recommended!

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.0/10)

adg211288 XXX is a compilation release from Italian heavy metal/hard rock act Rain. Unlike many compilation releases that just gather what the artist/label considers to be their best work (or the singles), XXX stands as one of the more worthwhile releases of its kind because the songs, while all but one are already present in the group’s back catalogue, are entirely re-recorded with the group’s new line-up. XXX was released in 2011.

The group’s music sits along the borderline of traditional heavy metal and hard rock, so anyone into either style is advised to give Rain a shot. Being a compilation release anyone already into the group will know most of the tracks as only the second song Whiskey on the Route 666 is new. However although I couldn’t find line-up information for all the group’s full-lengths I know at least some of this material features a different lead vocalist, which should add to the release’s value to the existing fan.

For the newcomer XXX should serve as a great introductory package to Rain. These are classic hard rocking heavy metal songs that anyone into their classic metal should be able to appreciate. While I can’t say that as a whole the compilation commands the same level of attention throughout, this is definitely a solid package that I can feel justified to recommend both to Rain’s fanbase and to anyone looking to explore their sound for the first time, with the added bonus that if you find you really dig Rain and want to get their full-lengths, you’ll still have a compilation release that will sit just as easily on your shelf as the main discography, unlike countless compilations where all the material may be found in the same versions as on other albums. Having not heard the original songs I can’t comment on how they compare with the new versions present on XXX, but all in all this is a solid release to my ears.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 7.4/10)