Bringing together the cheese of power metal with the cheese of 80s synth pop, Beast in Black really made their stamp on the rock world when they released their debut album 2 years ago. Full of pomp and drama, this album really sells its cinematic flourishes, with stand out songs like “Blind and Frozen,” “Blood of a Lion,” and “Zodd the Immortal.”
Part of what makes this work is the vocal range of the singer Yannis Papadopoulos, not only providing high screams and low growls, but even his light soft voice gives a different angle on the songs, providing a lot of dramatic variety. It’s a shame the lyrics don’t have that same breadth. Not to say that they’re bad, as they are mainly inspired by the grim-and-gritty fantasy manga series Berserk, but one can’t help but wonder if the lines on “Hell For All Eternity,” “Eternal Fire,” and “Go To Hell” weren’t written on the same afternoon.
Still, it’s a very good album, with the 80s synthesizers bringing the unique touch that knows when to take center stage and when to sit back and augment the guitars. While it may not be the most dedicated metal sound, with “Crazy, Mad, Insane” wandering into Italo Disco territory (not a bad thing, in my opinion), it certainly has a lot to offer for fans of melodic metal that don’t take things too seriously and are willing to let the fun take over.
Angra - Holy Land
The recent death of vocalist André Matos made me realize just how much of a hole I have in my power metal knowledge. While I have heard and liked a few Angra songs, I’ve never sat down and listened to one of their albums, so I thought I’d correct that by listening to this one.
What we have here is a very interesting mix of symphonic power and progressive metal, with a few touches of folk and even classical music influences. Given that this is an album about the colonization of Brazil, a meeting of European and native Brazilian cultures, it does make sense, and it all comes together very well. Between the speed-riffing guitars and flaring trumpets, we have a band with an iconic sound that I really have been missing out on!
A lot of it has to do with the talented members of the band. André Matos voice is very strong and powerful, especially on songs like “Make Believe” and “Deep Blue,” while the guitar work from Loureiro and Bittencourt are electric in their speed and melodies, all of which stand up to the best of the likes of Stratovarius and Rhapsody of Fire. With stand-out tracks like “Nothing to Say,” “Carolina IV,” and “The Shaman,” this album really is a power metal powerhouse!!
Dream Theater - Distance Over Time
Let me first explain my knowledge of Dream Theater. Basically, I’ve listened to their first three albums, which were pretty good. Then I listened to The Astonishing, which was a weird experiment that really didn’t work. Ambitious, but strange all the same. So that’s what I have to work with going into their newest album.
Right off, we see the band really flexing their skills, with the technical leads and complex songwriting often overwhelming the lyrics, but that’s par for the course with Dream Theater. I found I really like Rudress’s hammondy solos, mostly showing up on “Fall Into The Light” and “Viper King,” the latter of which has a very interesting Deep Purple vibe, like they tried to write their own fun version of “Highway Star.”
The rest of the album maintain’s Dream Theater’s penchant for unusual song structures and instrumental digressions, most of which are pretty entertaining. “Barstool Warrior” and “Out of Reach” are a pair of curious ballads (or at least as close as to a ballad as one can get with prog metal), and “Room 137” has a curious, psychedelic groove.
Of course, with this kind of music, it’s going to take more than a few spins to really get into it, but first impressions are strong. Lots of neat little melodies and solos, anchored by LaBrie’s vocals to keep the tracks from wandering too far. I know many have said this is more of a return to form after The Astonishing, and I have to admit I kind of agree. Not mind-blowing, but pretty good.
Eidolon - Zero Hour
Eidolon is a band I think I stumbled across once back when MySpace was a major hub for finding music online. I remember liking what I heard, giving a few of their albums a listen, and then forgetting about them. Sifting through some of this kind of older stuff in my music library, I decided to give their first album another spin.
While progressive metal is their main goal here, we have a curious mix of sounds that carries little bits of thrash and even grunge. The mix is quite clear, but the guitars have that iconic 90s crunch that sits somewhere between early Dream Theater and Alice in Chains, with a dash of Megadeth in there for good measure. (That Megadeth comparison might be a little cheeky, though, as drummer Shawn Drover and guitarist Glen Drover would end up joining Mustaine in the mid 2000s.)
Still, it’s some pretty neat stuff. While nothing really stands out on a song-writing level, it all has very good guitar work, including some rather nice acoustic guitar moments. Brian Soulard also does good work on the vocals when he can, coming off like a heavier James LeBrie or Geoff Tate, but the guitars and drums are definitely the focus for this album. A talented showing, if nothing else.
I admit things having been as busy as I would like, but I'll keep working on these articles. I know there is plenty of music out there that needs to be heard and shared, but my energy and time have been directed to other things as of late.
I'll just keep chugging along. Until then, rock on! \m/
I'll just keep chugging along. Until then, rock on! \m/
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