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| Fairyland - The Fall Of An Empire (Napalm
Records)
Review by Steve Green |
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I think the title of this album is very
apt, especially considering France's record for losing wars. Well that's
the cheap shot over and done with, it's time to rejoice in the music.
The Fall Of An Empire is one of those albums best described as a
pleasant surprise. Knowing nothing about Fairyland (the band or anything
the name might imply in other realms) it was simply a case of letting
the music blow me away. This is Symphonic Fantasy/Power Metal at it's
very best. I'm almost tempted to say that Fairyland are Teutonic in
their execution, but for the sake of keeping the peace with our French
brothers, I'll just say this album is strikingly European in
character... and yeah, in places, it reminds me of both Blind
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Guardian
and Gamma Ray.
The Fall Of An Empire is epic, it's symphonic, it's lush, it's majestic.
It's dragons, swords and elves style Fantasy Metal - it's Lord of the
Rings meets Power Metal and everything in between. It's also addictive.
When it hits my cd player, it inevitable gets constant rotation day
after day and I can see that happening for a long time to come as it
also has longevity in my ever changing musical mood. The twisting and
extremely harmonious choruses are pure ear candy (and probably the best
vocal harmonies I've heard since Queen's heyday), but never are they
sickly or cheesy. Fairyland have got the balance absolutely spot on and
it's impossible not to be drawn in by such melodic temptations. As for a
highlight, forget it. The album is consistently glorious in every
department and there's not an ounce of filler to be found. In fact it's
only the bands name I can find fault with.
Along with Firewind's
Allegiance, not only is this one of the best albums of 2006, it's also
one of the best of it's genre... period.
www.fairyland-metal.com |
www.napalmrecords.com |
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Falconer - Northwind (Metal Blade) Review by James Young |
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‘Falcon hell, these guys are good!’ was the immediate thought
that entered my head when I fired up Northwind, the latest
beauty from this Swedish sensation. Blending folk and power
metal with an epic edge, not forgetting the usual ridiculous
lyrics (look at the cover for an idea of what to expect), this
might not be groundbreaking material, but it’s so darn catchy
you just won’t care. Not only is everything about the music
perfect, in its delivery and pure cheesiness, but it is backed
up by a terrific production – what more could you ask for?
Shining gloriously are the silky smooth vocals of Mathias Blad,
making a return to the band having left in the past due to
work commitments. That’s not to say his re-entry into the band |
has been
smooth though – after the fairly negative reactions after the
last record, Grime Vs. Grandeur, he was hauled back behind the
microphone seemingly as a last resort. The biography gives a
terrific description of the future of the band with Blad, asking whether they will continue to play
live, answering ‘Well, the band will play live, but pick the
gigs worth rehearsing for.’ Sensitively put guys - the
invite’s in the post! Anyway, Blad’s participation in the
album is a good call; his voice gently caresses you whilst
making you want to whip out your sword and slay a dragon. The
rest of the band, well, seem to spring from that Swedish
production line of flawless musicians – ace solos, blazing
power metal intensity, all very metal really.
Wasting no time with spoken word intros, ‘Northwind’ sails in
as possibly the best of the fourteen tracks, beginning the
album on a piano-led vocal piece, bringing the heaviness in
soon after. The tempo changes on display here are simply
sublime, if you can forgive such lyrics as ‘Carry me safe for
shore, as you did my brethren of yore’. The keyboard and high
pitched vocal sections here and in ‘Catch The Shadows’ all
drip unashamedly with cheese, but in a loveable way; Dream
Evil are the only other band I can think of that can pull of
such antics without looking silly. The upbeat folky
arrangements of Fintroll and Korpiklaani sprang to mind also
in numbers such as ‘Spirit Of The Hawk’ and ‘Perjury And
Sanctity’, with one hell of a frenetic pace. Rather than take
the gruff humpa route and spiral into to general nuttiness
however, Falconer retain the dignity of Stratovarius,
Hammerfall and such like, creating a rich and sophisticated
sound. The double kick drums of Karsten Larsson are
astounding, but the drumming is most effective when mixed with
slower more melodic sections, showcased magnificently in ‘Home
Of The Knave’, a belter of a song to finish the album on.
Unsurprisingly, amongst the tracks you have the token (or
should I say Tolkien) ballad of ‘Long Gone By’, and a couple
of pure folk instrumental numbers, ‘Legend And The Lore’ and
‘Himmel Så Trind’, sung in the band’s native tongue, the
latter of which wouldn’t sound out of place in a Eurovision
Song Contest, and hey, don’t count it out.
Northwind is hardly a breath of fresh air (ahem), but it packs
a memorable punch if you get my drift (sorry…). You’ll have
the choruses and cheesy lyrics in your head for days, and if
you consider that a good thing, you need this in your folk or
battle metal collection. It will simply blow you away…
www.metalblade.de |
www.falconermusic.com
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Machinae Supremacy –
Redeemer (Spinefarm) Review by Andrew Doherty |
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A “unique blend of metal, soundtrack and video game music” is
the claim which accompanies this album. I had fears about the
soundtrack and video game music description when I read this.
It is testimony to the band Machinae Supremacy that they are
used in small measure and more importantly to good effect in
the context of the album and not just as samples, as is often
the case. “Redeemer” is for the most part at the lighter and
jollier end of the metal spectrum, and that’s fine. I would
say it has more than it claims. Perhaps not surprisingly,
given that Machinae Supremacy come from Sweden, tight and
strong melodic guitar riffs are present in abundance, and
there is a breakneck tempo |
catchiness about it, notably on “Through the Looking Glass”
and “Rogue World Asylum”, which you would associate with
Finland. Appropriately the Finnish label Spinefarm are behind this one, which is a remix of a
self-released indie album. I also detected traces of The
Haunted at the start of “Elite”, while the excellent “Rogue
World Asylum” contains the gothic bounciness of Poisonblack.
In fact, as the album progressed, I began to wonder if
Machinae Supremacy were trying to do too much. “I Know the
Reaper” has the makings of a really good song. It’s lively
with good timing and instrumental control in common with the
rest of the album. Unfortunately I was starting to find the
vocals on it slightly
irritating. I don’t know if Robert Stjärnström is trying to
model his voice on Axl Rose, but it simply hasn’t got the
depth. At the next track “Hate”, I stopped the cd and put on
some Entwined to compare the vocals. I listened to the whole
of the Entwined cd. It had structure and direction, and the
lead singer can hold a note. “Redeemer” was lacking these
qualities for me. After giving up the first time to listen to
something else, I have done my duty and listened to “Redeemer”
several times. It’s definitely worth the effort. In contrast
to Swedish/Finnish Death/Thrash style which dominate the
opening tracks, the mixed bag which characterises Machinae
Supremacy moves into a mellow and electronic world of
occasional heaviness interspersed of course with more Swedo-Finnish
melodic thrashiness. The last three tracks are along the lines
of pop/rock. Track 9 “Ronin” has a very anthemic feel about
it, with a powerful and almost sinister element. A good song.
“Oki Kumas Adventure” develops from an electronic beginning
into another great rock song with great control and a catchy
chorus. “Ronin” showed promising signs but now justice is now
being done on “Oki Kumas Adventure” to the singer’s voice. The
female voice on the chorus in the latter part of the track
works really well. The track has got a bit of Entwined and
Sethian about it but our man on the keyboards, who is clearly
having a lovely time injecting his pleasing electronic sounds,
reinforces my view that this is a well thought-out and
original song. Then we have the finale in the form of a
fantastic atmospheric rock track called “Reanimator” with the
spatial intergalactic tone of the synthesiser creating
haunting atmospheric sounds to support the slow-paced rhythm
and then having got us this far … the track roars into action
and grabs us with a powerful and epic finish. I still have the
final words “Wake up to the silence, just for Judgement Day”
reverberating through my head. Although not entirely in
keeping with the earlier ones and erring away from metal
towards to the emotional, the last two tracks are captivating.
I think that Machinae Supremacy demonstrate that they have the
ideas and potential for an absolutely killer album. The
technical guitar work on “Redeemer” is really good, the
changes of tempo are well managed and there are some other
great touches, including the “video game music” element which
is an unnecessary overstatement and a bit misleading. They do
need to channel their ideas, do their own thing and show more
of a sense of direction with their style. For me “Redeemer” is
not the perfect album, but it’s got great technical qualities,
it’s varied, very interesting and enjoyable.
www.spinefarm.fi
| www.machinaesupremacy.com |
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Masi - 2nd Shape (Locomotive Records)
By: Joe Florez |
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This has to be one of the most out there records I have heard
in a long while. If you think that is weird, check out the
official website as well. To clear things up fast, this isn’t
a side project from famed guitarist Alex Masi. Instead, this
is a singer/guitarist from Switzerland. The music is a
combination of electronic programming and amped up riffs.
Despite it being quite odd, I found this entrancing. “Take
Your Time” sounds like something off of the new Moby record.
There is this repetitive which reminds me of some sort of
keyboard note and the axe just plays over it in a slightly
heavy manor with programmed drumming adding a little oomph to
the mix along with vocals. The result is something poppy and
strange and |
even
commercial, but not as perplexing as I would have thought.
It’s quite friendly and pleasing to he ears. “Sideway” has a
bit more of an edge as things are a bit more organic and with
the droning like vocals that have a touch of goth to them I could only compare them to Interpol. “Joey”
adds a little bit of violin action to the mix which is a
welcomed change of pace. It’s apparent that this is a one man
army who plays everything, but since it’s pretty uncomplicated
Masi does a pretty decent job at performing on everything.
This release really surprised me at how entertaining this is.
Many people won’t get it and that’s ok. This isn’t for
everyone. I think those who are more into the experimental
side of things may find this appealing or like the electronic
movement.
www.locomotiverecords.com
| www.masi-music.com |
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Mephisto
– A Call From Nowhere (self-released) Review by Andrew
Doherty
For some reason the French metal scene is introspective with a
large number of impressive bands of all genres and their
labels filling their scene without ever crossing borders.
Mephisto through its band members and sound engineer are
closely linked with Darkshine, who recently undertook a
European tour with Aeternus, Devilish Impressions and Arum
including two gigs in the UK. In contrast to Darkshine’s
surging technical Death/Black metal, Mephisto are more mellow
and progressive. The switching of styles with different
projects is often the sign of high musical skill, imagination
and competence – think Tschort’s various roles with Carpathian
Forest, Blood Red Throne and Green Carnation. Mephisto are at
the Green Carnation end of the spectrum. The band themselves
accredit their influences as Porcupine Tree, Led Zeppelin,
Metallica, Katatonia and many others, which accounts for their
mixture of progressive music with rock and the occasional
incursion into heaviness. The first thing which struck me
about “ A Call from Nowhere” was the lead singer Laurent
Sanchez’s gravelly voice, which sounds like a melodious Joe
Cocker for those who can remember that far back. Although a
clear comparison can be drawn with Porcupine Tree in some of
the later tracks, many of the songs are “retro” in their style
and don’t have the waves of sound running through them as you
would find in the music of Porcupine Tree or the Polish band
Riverside. Indeed, the simplistic keyboard style reminds me of
the Classic 70s Rock outfit Argent.
As to the album itself, the first three tracks do not do
justice to the rest of it. “Craze” starts with a lively
opening and is an energetic track with interesting twists and
turns but I wonder if it is over ambitious. The guitar work is
good as it is throughout the album but the refrain goes
nowhere and the track doesn’t have a great flow about it.
Laurent sounds like he is struggling. At times on the album,
his distinctive voice is brilliant and full of feeling, both
on slower and faster numbers, but sudden changes and holding a
note are not his forte. “Helpless” is a standard rock song
with a few keyboard-inspired mellow moments mid way through,
while “View” is a reflective track, supported by some 70s
style guitar work and a change of direction towards an almost
jazz-style section in the middle. For me, the album really
gets going with “Freak”, which is a great slow track, full of
feeling. Laurent’s voice is made for this one. The guitars
come in at just the right time, the tempo changes are
masterly, allowing us pause for thought before moving on. This
is a very well-structured track. “The Blues” is another
soulful track in which the perfectly-timed guitars bring
atmosphere. Laurent’s vocals come into their own after
sounding strained at the beginning. The other two tracks I
thought were outstanding were “Miracle” and “Sleep Addict”.
“Miracle” is a guitar-driven heavier track with a punchy riff.
Being a longer track, there is time to indulge in some serious
Prog guitar to finish. I loved the ending. “Sleep Addict” is
one of a number of solid rock tracks but with a Progressive
mid section and a powerful ending. The only thing I liked
about the rather nondescript “The Fool”, which highlighted for
me the need for the band to look at the vocal ranges used, was
the strong guitar-based ending, so reminiscent of Porcupine
Tree. The jazz/prog-style “The Lucky One” was probably very
meaningful but did nothing for me at all. In amongst it were
the classic rock tracks “Chemicals”, “Free” and “Hands”.
“Hands” is a slower track with more tight guitar work which
made me think of Opeth and has an unexpected ending, while
“Chemicals” is a good track with a catchy chorus line. The
track “Free” epitomised much of this album, which explores a
number of areas and could not ever be described as boring.
Laurent’s slightly strained vocals run through this lively
rock track before we are taken away into Progsville.
So, what we have in “A Call from Nowhere” is a multi-paced
mixture of progressive and rock music with bits of metal and
jazz thrown in. Sometimes it doesn’t work for me and suffers
from being over ambitious, yet it’s a classic and lively album
which is extremely interesting and well worth a listen.
www.mephisto.new.fr |
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Rebellion - Sagas Of
Iceland (The History Of The Vikings Volume I) (Locomotive Records)
By: Joe Florez |
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I have always enjoyed the simple approach to this bands music
because it was straight up power metal. Lead vocalist Michael
Seifert sounded a lot like Chris Boltendahl from Grave Digger.
What’s even funnier is that former guitarist Uwe Lulis from
G.D. is here now and he also produced the record. However,
with two records of basically the same thing, I was beginning
to wonder if these guys stood a chance in standing out alone
or do they get lost in the genre with the rest of the artists
trying to break through. I have to say that I was quite blown
away with this third effort. For starters, this is a two part
disc with the German’s take on the Icelandic Vikings setting
sail to discover new land. Lead cut “Ynglinga Saga (To |
Odin We
Call)” was something that I wasn’t expecting. Even though the
track doesn’t burst through the speakers with huge amounts of
energy, this one is awesome in many ways. This is a mid-paced
and even a slow one, but it’s layered nicely. There are
haunting chants inserted right from the get go as Mike
actually sings with a raspy voice and in fact breaking the
Chris Boltendahl comparison. The guitars are calm, consistent,
but are exude heavy metal riffs through and through. There is
even this cool vibe that helps build this song into becoming
epic and preparing for the many wars to come as the Vikings
charter off into dangerous territory along the way to their
final destination. As the song continues to sail along, the
solo manages to work its way in without making a grand
entrance. You have to listen closely for it and when you reach
that point, I just absolutely lost it because it rocks out as
if tomorrow wasn’t going to happen. It’s energetic,
intelligent and not overbearing. It’s perfect in every way. I
think that fans of Rebellion won’t expect this and might even
be put off by it, but they shouldn’t because it’s a great way
to start off this story and the best is yet to come. “The Sons
Of The Dragon Slayer” is typical power metal with the usual
rapid fire double bass drumming and the vocals reach higher
levels of screaming and intensity. The guitar licks are
lightening quick, but boast tremendous amounts of melody. This
is a definite headbanging jam that makes you want to wield
your sword, throw on your horned hat and prep for battle. The
battle cries shouted out during the chorus will have fans
singing along if this one is played live and quite frankly it
should. As the story moves along, we hit “Treason” which has a
touch of a ballad feeling, but is basically a slow song
detailing the many problems that face the warriors of the sea.
Quite powerful if you ask me.
This was the disc that was
absolutely needed to make by Rebellion to showcase that they
do have the talent and know how to survive this scene. Their
past two efforts are cool as hell, but this is the disc that
really made me take notice of their awesome song writing
capabilities and compelling lyrics. There is perfect balance
on here showcasing more than one dimension to the group with
their songs based in up tempo, mid range and slow. These five
Germans are here to stay and I wait with my tongue wagging on
the floor for part two. Essential!
www.locomotiverecods.com
| www.rebellion.st
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Richard Andersson’s
Space Odyssey – Tears of the Sun (Regain) Review
by Frank Allain |
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Keyboard-widdler extraordinaire and prolific mastermind behind
tech-proggers Time Requiem, Richard Andersson returns with his
conceptual Space Odyssey project. ‘Tears of the Sun’ presents
ludicrous tales of cosmic journeys and interstellar travel
seemingly plucked from the mind of a man who always has one
eye on the stars. The sonic premise here is very much classic
metal with a modern sheen and the strong vocals of David
Fremberg take centre stage. Indeed, ‘Tears of the Sun’ is a
million miles away from the furious (and somewhat unbearably
self-indulgent) technicality of the Time Requiem material with
traditional ‘verse-chorus’ structures and chugging old-school
riffs abound. This |
unexpected level of restraint works wonders and for me, ‘Tears
of the Sun’ is far more palatable than much of Mr Andersson’s previous works.
The album blasts off with ‘The Bohemian Werewolf’ and this
listener is immediately struck by the mature, classy sound
conjured up by the Swedes. Andersson’s collaborator,
guitarist/bassist Magnus Nilsson, weighs in with some
impressively meaty riffs, Hammond organs swirl and this sturdy
opener screams Holy Diver-era Dio kicked into the 21st
Century. Second track ‘Obsession’ launches and already, we
know that we’re in for a satisfying ride. ‘Tears of the Sun’
is everything today’s power metal should be but isn’t – hefty
slabs of old-school metal welded to a cutting-edge production
and staggering technical ability, tastefully employed. Each
track is well thought through, perfectly balanced and neatly
hurdles the myriad failings of their spandex-clad,
helium-voiced contemporaries. Andersson is remarkably
restrained here, content to simmer in the background and
occasionally unleash the odd spidery solo. Nevertheless, for
me, the real star of the show is Fremberg – his powerful,
mid-register voice propelling such infectious driving metal
tunes such as ‘Dark Wings of Universe’ to even greater
heights.
Intelligently crafted and flawlessly executed, there really is
little to fault here and for a ‘project’ band, there’s a
remarkable amount of passion flowing on this record. I suppose
the cover art is a bit bland and the concept pretty absurd but
that’s kind of par for the course with this stuff. No, I can
only conclude that Space Odyssey have crafted a real gem here
and I suspect that this one will be spinning for some time to
come yet.
www.anderssonmusic.com |
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Sabatan
– Fire Angel (Self-released) Review by James Young
Not to be confused (as indeed I was) with Swedish power metal
crew Sabaton, Spain’s Sabatan take a far grittier, heavier
take on the metal scene. I’m sorry to say however that Fire
Angel, whilst strong at points, was far from convincing when
taken as a whole, and ultimately a huge disappointment. The
production manages to be both the album’s strongest and
weakest point – when the rawer, thrashier numbers kick into
gear, the sound is impressively abrasive, but often it serves
simply to expose holes in the musicianship, sounding no better
at times than a student band rehearsal session. The songs are
also far too long - the average duration of four to five
minutes per song, and total running time of over an hour gets
tedious beyond belief. Not only this, but all too often the
band seem to run out of ideas around the two minute mark in a
song, and resort to using a generic double kick pattern to
provide the backing to a bog-standard guitar solo. Various
attempts to introduce time changes and changes in style during
the long and pointless mid-song filler just complicate things
further and lose the listener in a tide of boredom. Two songs
are over seven minutes in length, ironically called ‘Memories’
and ‘Live On’ because they are neither memorable, nor will
they ever be played again.
Another problem I had with the album was that I just couldn’t
seem to figure out what genre of metal the band try and
specialise in. I’m totally in favour of metal hybrids, but
consequently on this disc you end up with a mish-mash of
various ideas which come across as confused and random at
best. The vocals of Miguel Corte-Real sound a little like
James Hetfield, most convincing in a thrashier numbers as
‘When Death Rubs Hands’ and ‘Fire Angel’, the latter of which
is severely let down by its cripplingly long running time.
Attempts to sing, which occur far too often, fail to add any
real depth, although there are more convincing moments, for
example ‘Not Surrender’, which is ruined by the drone-along
sections which could have done with some oomph, not to mention
the sleep-inducing track length. Even more confusingly, there
are moments which use pure falsetto in a Biomechanical manner,
such as on ‘Seeds Of Serenity’, which adds an unconvincing
power metal edge to the album. As strange and incongruous to
the album as it is, ‘Edge Of Life’ actually impressed me more
than any of the songs in its sheer intensity, with Eduardo
Olmos’ double kick drums blazing from the very start. Corte-Real’s
high-pitched wails actually provide a great touch to this
track, despite the convoluted solo section which (surprise
surprise) goes on for far too long. Sometimes the band try and
emulate the rock n roll intensity of old-school heavy metal
bands, Motorhead being brought to mind in the dirty bass-heavy
number of ‘Terror Mind’, whilst the solo of ‘Serpent King’
uses a classic metal style for part of its overly-long and
pointless solo. Don’t let a sense of nostalgia get your hopes
up though - there’s nothing that wasn’t done donkey’s years
ago (and far better for that matter). ‘Stay Heavy’
incorporates some nice retro elements, singing about long hair
and even includes the lyric ‘Heavy metal is the law’, but once
again, two minutes of momentum-destroying solo overkill
cancels out any praise I may have been able to salvage from
the track.
I don’t think I’ll ever listen to Fire Angel again, although
if Sabatan get their ideas sorted out and actually choose a
musical direction, which they are more than capable of doing,
there’s no doubt I’ll be the first to say I’ve been with them
all along. For now I’ll stick to bands that know what they’re
trying to do.
www.sabatan.com |
www.myspace.com/sabatan |
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