After having a very busy June, I've finally got some time to catch up on some newer releases from earlier in the year and an older album that I admit is mostly just marking off an item on a checklist. Still, it wasn't all bad, and the newer albums had some decent moments as well. Here's what I've been listening to lately.
This band blew me away a few years back with their curious blend of pop and prog metal, and when they announced their fourth album, I knew I had to give it a listen. The first single showed that they have retained their particular style, and the rest of them album provides more of the same, but it struggles to really grab me.
The album has a lot of things going for it. The production is big and anthemic, everyone's performances are solid, and they certainly don't rely on clichés for their ideas or lyrics, often dipping into science fiction elements. The guitars provide a lot of noodly solos and crunchy riffs (Daniel Olaisen and Frank Ørland back again), and Jørgen Bergersen voice is huge and natural, their 80s rocking style ringing out with confidence. The songwriting isn't afraid to mix it up at times either, throwing in a darker riff or a softer section, letting some songs drift in the five or six minute territory. However, I can't deny that there seems to be something missing. Maybe the melodic hooks aren't really working, making the songs less memorable, as they tend to pass delightfully in one ear and out the other.
I'm wondering if this is an album I'm gonna have to spend some time with in order to get a better idea of what these guys were going. There certainly seems to be a push to make things more cinematic, taking their pop metal sound and boosting to a bigger scale, but I don't know if it's really making the music better. I did like "I'm Somebody" as a solid opener, and "After the Raid" felt like it was inspired by Gamma Ray, but overall, initial impressions leave me lukewarm.
Yup, it's finally time to talk about the other Blaze Bayley album. I was pretty underwhelmed by the first one, but from what I had heard, this one is just as bad, if not worse. As it turns out, I think Virtual XI is actually an improvement, if only a minor one, as many of the problems from The X Factor return.
Primarily, the muddy production comes back, as well as the extended song lengths. Honestly, many of these tracks feel long just for the sake of long, often repeating choruses over and over, as if they felt the need to pad them out for some reason. "The Angel and the Gambler" is the biggest offender, as that song had maybe enough ideas for 4 minutes, but it goes on for 10! The songwriting does have a few shake-ups, but most of the songs follow the same "Fear of the Dark" formula that the last album did.
While I do think the band feel a little more energized, they still sound like they lack a lot of inspiration. There are some solid guitar melodies and solos, the dynamics shift in ways that are pretty typical (though they are boosted by some synthesizers adding a few layers), and Blaze sounds decent, but it's hard to shake this sense that they're still in cruise control. "Futureal" and "The Clansman" are probably the only songs that stand out, as the first has good energy, and the second does build to a decent level of epicness. Overall, it's not awful, and not as sluggish as The X Factor was, but it's easy to see why most Maiden fans consider both of the Bayley albums to be so skippable.
After stumbling into the band with a neat little power metal song about the Soul Reaver games, I decided to check out what else this band had to offer for 2023. What I got was a set of songs that shift back and forth between AOR and heavy/power, like a mix of modern HammerFall and Eclipse, but with more symphonic keyboards.
Maybe it was just the mood I was in, but the more metal songs stood out to me more. "Shadow of the Curse" is a solid opener, really using the keyboards to add lush layers. "Soul Reaver" was fun to hear again, and "Nighthunter" had a bit of a traditional metal vibe (at least until the choirs came in). "The Ones to Fall" and "Creatures of the Night" were more on the AOR side, and "Falling Dawn" was a mix of both styles. "Dusk of Dawn" gets doomy and dramatic with a slower riff and the massive orchestrations, only to get broken up with an uptempo section for the second half of the song, and "The Thirteen Nails" goes full-on symphonic metal.
Overall, it's a decent album, with a solid sense for dynamics and orchestrations, but otherwise it's pretty standard power metal. It's also a little on the short side, at 45 minutes, but I think they were able to cover a good range of ideas in that time. It's not particularly original (as most power metal fans will feel pretty comfortable with what Silver Bullet provides), but it's executed well. While I had never heard of the band before, I'm curious to check out their older albums to see what they're like, if I can find the time.
I don't know if I have much to say at the moment, other than that I'm trucking along. My next article, which will be for 1998, is going to be a doozy, so I need to get started on that sooner rather than later (you'll see!). I've been seeing some pretty high temperatures around, so I hope everyone is staying cool this summer. Until then, rock on! \m/
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