FALCONER — Falconer (review)

FALCONER — Falconer album cover Album · 2001 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Falconer" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by Swedish folk/ power metal act Falconer. The album was released in May 2001 by Metal Blade Records. Falconer is the brainchild of Stefan Weinerhall who has composed all music written all lyrics for the album. Stefan Weinerhall plays all guitars and bass on the album. Vocals and keyboards are handled by Mathias Blad and the drums are played by Karsten Larsson. Ulrika Olovsson delivers occassional female vocals. The original album contains 10 tracks, but some versions include the bonus track Per Tyrssons Döttrar I Vänge, which is a rendition of a Swedish folk song. I highly recommend that you seek out a version which features the bonus track, because that track is quite the fantastic folk metal track.

The music on the album is power metal/ traditional heavy metal with medieval and Scandinavian folk elements ( and folky/ fantasy lyrics about Kings and Blacksmiths). The instrumentation does not include any unconventional ( for metal) instruments like it´s the case on many other folk metal albums. We´re talking bass, drums, guitar and keyboards. The music is delightfully energetic. The tempi varies between fast- and mid-paced. You´ll find both heavy riffing and lots of melodic lead work on the album but the greatest asset of this album is without a doubt the elastic and powerful vocal delivery of Mathias Blad. Now that´s one skilled and distinct sounding lead vocalist for you there. While the instrumental part of the music is definitely enjoyable in its own right, it´s the vocals that takes this album to a higher level. The album is highly consistent and there´s not a single weak track featured on the album, but tracks like "Heresy in Disguise", "Mindtraveller" and "Wings of Serenity" are among the strongest on the album.

The album is produced by legendary King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque and he has created a great powerful sound for the music.

I was introduced to Falconer the year after this album was released and I remember I listened to the album a lot. Then came a couple of years where I didn´t listen to the album and actually I didn´t know exactly what to expect when I brought the album out again for this review. Fortunately the album hasn´t lost any of it´s charm in the years where I didn´t listen to it and when I listen to it now, it still puts me in a good positive mood just like great power metal is suppossed to. I find this debut album by Falconer highly recommendable to fans of power metal/ traditional heavy metal with folk elements and a 4 star rating is deserved.
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