ARTIZAN — Ancestral Energy (review)

ARTIZAN — Ancestral Energy album cover Album · 2013 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Time Signature
I Am the Storm...

Genre: melodic heavy metal

"Ancestral Energy" is the sophomore effort by the American heavy metal act Artizan, and a follow-up to the 2011-debut "Curse of the Artizan". Their debut impressed the critics with its melodic approach and slightly progressive twist, combining accessibility and sophistication. They obviously had something to live up to.

Did they succeed? Yes, they certainly did. "Ancestral Energy" is characterized by the same sense of melody and accessibility as the debut, but it strikes me as being less progressive. While the debut might be compared to Queensrÿche at their best, "Ancestral Energy" reminds me more of Maiden's "Brave New World". The songs on "Ancestral Energy" are fairly long and sophsticated, consisting of several passages. The album as a whole is characterized by solid riffage and enhtralling melodies and is generally a joy to listen to. The Artizan-guys are definitely extremely silled songsmiths.

The musicianship is top notch across the board. I don't want to belittle the efforts of the other performing members of the band, but I am in particular impressed with vocalist Tom Braden and drummer Ty Tammeus. Braden's voice has the same clarity as on the debut, but a slightly rwer edge. He really delivers the goods. Tammeus' drumming is both solid and organic at the same time, full of small details - much like Scott Rockenfied's style.

Fans of melodic and sophisticated metal with lots of hooks and lots of elements from both traditional metal and the more melodic branch of power metal should check out this album.
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