This heat is still bearing down on me, but I was able to put on some new tunes this past month. I've got some new stuff and a classic power metal album, this time around. Here's what I've checked out lately.
While I had heard good things about this band, I had never sat down and listened to an Orden Ogan album before this one. I had liked the singles for this as they came out, as I felt they had some promise, but now that I've listened to the whole thing, I feel kind of underwhelmed. Not that it was bad, just less than what I was hoping for.
I understand the band generally does concept albums, and this is no different, focusing on an apocalyptic war between humanity and the AIs that have taken everything over, mostly by pitting people against each other. The result is an interesting mix of power and prog metal, with Evergrey being a good point of reference. I felt the lyrics were pretty depressing as well, often focusing on the inevitability of humanity's failure, which felt odd with the more dramatic, anthemic layers they were building. And those layers are lush, with lots of symphonic strings as well as some square-wave synths to amplify the sci-fi aesthetic.
However, the songs feel kind of lackluster. There's some decent riffing and noodly solos, but it just kinda plods along, mostly at mid-tempo pace. "In the Dawn of the AI" and "Hollow" had some decent energy, and the ballad duet with Ylva Eriksson on "Alone in the Dark" was nice, but otherwise, not much really stood out to me. Maybe I'll check out their earlier albums to see if they are better, but for now, this is some pretty mediocre power metal.
Let's go from modern power metal to a power metal classic! I'm still working my way through Blind Guardian's catalog, but I knew a few tracks from this already, mostly the title track (which is great!). At this point, they're clearly hitting their power metal stride, with some great riffing and double-kicking drums.
However, there are still a few stumbling blocks. The production isn't as clear as it could be. I felt the drums would get muddy at times, blending with the guitars. It does create a nice wall-of-sound effect, but I guess I'm used to clearer production for my power metal. Also, the lyrics feel a little clunky, which has been normal for the band thus far, but there are times where some of the word choices will throw me out of the song.
That being said, Hansi Kürsch is crushing it, really giving his vocal chords a work out! I wondered if his throat didn't get soar from all that harsh singing he was doing! As for the rest, the band remains quite talented, with some solid solos from André Olbrich. There's also a decent amount of variety, with some folky ballads and mid-tempo stompers. The standout tracks were the title track, "I'm Alive," and "Bright Eyes," though the album was largely pretty good overall. It's easy to hear how influential this band was on the years of power metal to follow.
It took me some time, but I've finally put together my thoughts on the new Yes spin-off project: Arc of Life. While it has a few proggy moments, most of this seems to fit into the AOR vibe of the Yes album Open Your Eyes, which makes sense given that Billy Sherwood was heading up this one, both in the songwriting and production. However, despite all the talent on hand, it feels like Sherwood's production is smothering everything.
It's certainly a dynamic album with a good variety of tones and moods, but things aren't as tight as they could be, as the songs tend to float on by rather than feel unified. The production doesn't help much as it's going for something more atmospheric and broad, but this just makes the instruments feel muddled and lost in the mix. Dave Kerzner is a great keyboardist, but I never felt like I got to hear him much outside of contributing to the general wall-of-sound. The songwriting is a little clunky as well, with parts not quite working together, and some sections just kind of lingering longer than they need to. It mostly feels like a collection of sound collages inspired by 80s and 90s Yes, instead of properly structured songs. Finally, Sherwood takes the lead vocals on most of the tracks, and it made me wonder why they even bothered to bring in Jon Davison (who I would have liked to hear more of).
That's not to say that the album is completely bad. The vocal harmonies are lush, and there are plenty of layers to spare. It's just feels like it's hard to really grasp what's going on and sometimes the lyrics are hard to make out. I admit there really isn't much to recommend, but "You Make It Real" is a decent AOR track, and "Therefore We Are" represents the best of the proggy side of things. Maybe I just got my hopes up too high for this one. Here's hoping the Yes album that comes out later this year fares better.
I apologize for cramming everything in here at the end of July. I've got one more New Videos article that I'll put up before the end of the month, and then maybe I'll get back to a more regular schedule. There is still plenty I'm looking forward to for the second half of this year, and I'll try to get to as much as I can. Until then, rock on! \m/
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