Once again, my retro reviews are dominated by my next Top 5 article, and with 2000 coming up, I had plenty of albums to consider. However, in the end, I decided to review these five, as they are mostly continuations of bands I've been reviewing over the years, which means more power metal! Instead of breaking these up, I've decided to throw them together, so settle in for a long article!
After enjoying their latest releases, I figured it was time to try and fill in some of the gaps I had with this band's discography. I've mentioned before that I've listened up through Better than Raw, and most of it is great power metal. With this one, the band had retroactively mentioned there was more executive meddling this time, and they went with a bit of a darker, gritter tone.
Things start off with some pretty typical power metal, as tracks like "Mr. Torture," and "All Over the Nations" would have fit in well with any other Helloween album. Then we get "Escalation 666" and "Mirror Mirror" with both have a much darker tone and mid-tempo chugging, and their lead single "If I Could Fly" feels almost like an alternative rock song. The rest of the album bounces bounces around these two styles. While the power metal tracks are classic in style, they do feel a bit less inspired than usual, while the slower, grittier tracks are a mixed bag, but feature some neat ideas. However, to the band's credit, the album never feels uneven or jarring, the different sounds making the album feel kind of diverse.
Personally, I find the later material on the album to be stronger. "Mirror Mirror" is an interesting take on the classic fairy tale, then "The Departed (Sun Is Going Down)" and "I Live For Your Pain" are the best of the slower, grittier songs. Meanwhile, "We Damn the Night" is the best of the power metal side, the epic closing title track features all of this and more. While this isn't the band at their best, they've certainly had worse, and I think there's plenty to like here, making this more like a dark horse than a black sheep.
After Ballbreaker, these Aussies seemed to settle into a pattern of putting out an album every 5-8 years, as I'm sure their live show was the more profitable side of their band. As for this album, they definitely drawn upon the blues rock that dominated their sound in the 70s, making this feel like something of a throw back.
Of course, this is a minor shift, as the band's sound is one of the most unchanging things in the history of rock music, and that's just fine. Things start of well with the rockin' title track, "Meltdown" and "House of Jazz" have the strongest blues elements on the album, and "Hold Me Back" has this near minimal approach before it builds to its anthemic end. "Safe in New York City" has some interesting energy, and the blues come back for "Satellite Blues" and "Come and Get It." I do think the album does lose some steam towards the end, but "Give It Up" is a solid closer. Overall, it's another AC/DC album, designed to get your headbanging from beginning to end. I will say, though, that I think this one was better than Ballbreaker, and probably on the upper end of their discography.
For what it's worth, this was the last album I needed to hear to complete my listening of their entire studio discography. It took many years (long before I started the blog), but I can say with confidence that they've been largely consistent over their entire history. I might at some point create a Retrospective Article, filling in the reviews I need to, but that will probably have to wait until next year sometime. In the meantime, they remain the band we've always enjoyed, and this album is a good example why.
This year was definitely one for power metal, with this one being the third in their Emerald Sword Saga. In the last album, our hero made it to the tower to find the titular weapon and is now on his way back to face the evil that threatens the land. Naturally, this means another set of bombastic, high speed power metal!
Musically, nothing has changed at all from the last album. We get more neo-classical orchestrations to go with all of Luca Turilli's shredding guitars, and Fabio Lione does his best to share the story in his soaring voice. As for that story, the hero brings the armies together into an alliance against the evil Akron, but when his friend's lover (a princess) gets kidnapped, the vile lord wants the Emerald Sword for himself. The heroes try to anticipate a trap only to get captured, and the sword falls into the hands of evil, and our main hero is the only one to escape with his life. I bring up the story here, as the album starts rather triumphant, but the songs get darker and more desperate as it goes (at least for power metal, anyway). Of course, there are still some strange breaks, like "The Village of the Dwarves" with its folky respite, but most of the time, it's pretty melodramatic theatrics, which the music holds together well enough.
This is one of those albums where the great songs are great, but the rest is pretty forgettable. I liked the title track and "Holy Thunderforce," as they feature some pretty epic melodies and symphonics, and the massive closer "The Mighty Ride of the Firelord" has a little of everything. However, the rest of the songs, while not necessarily bad (though "The Bloody Rage of the Titans" was another strange one), they aren't as memorable as those three. In any case, the band is once again spot on with their orchestrations and arrangements, and certainly sell their operatic pretentions pretty well.
After enduring the two Blaze Bayley albums, it was high time I got back into this band and their reunion with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith. However, they decide to hang on to Janick Gers, making the first album with three guitarists. In fact, this lineup has remained ever since! In any case, this album is pretty much a return to form for the band, calling upon their 80s majesty.
I know I haven't reviewed any Dickinson album before now, so let's get the obvious out of the way: this man is a great vocalist and frontman. He's one of the greats for good reason, and he sounds great here. The rest of the band is definitely back to normal after stumbling through the 90s. The rhythms and hooks are tight again, and the guitar work is exemplary as always. Essentially, it's Maiden doing what they do best, which is writing solid, melodic heavy metal, and after the last two albums, it's nearly a relief to hear the crew still have it where it matters. The long songs have return as well, as the band leans more into their proggy side like "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or "Alexander the Great."
Listening to this album is like putting on an old pair of comfortable shoes. While long-time Maiden fans will already know how good songs like "The Wicker Man" and "Blood Brothers" are, but I also rather liked "Ghost of the Navigator" and "The Fallen Angel." There are no surprises and you know what to expect, but at the same time, you can't help but feel good about it anyway, simply because it's executed well. As a consequence, the album might not stand up well against their classics, but it makes for a solid return to form, and a new baseline for what follows.
Just to round things out, I decided to throw this collection on and give it a listen. Technically, it's a compilation for the band, but a majority of it was recorded, letting the fans pick the songs on their website. While the songs themselves weren't changed much, there are a few major differences that make this more than just a typical Greatest Hits album.
First is the production, making the re-recorded versions feel more rich and layered, so they feel more in-line with what the band had been doing at the time. It also gives them a welcome extra punch of power metal. The other major difference is that the vocals of Ralf Scheepers (now happily working in Primal Fear at this point) were now provided by Kai Hansen. While some of the re-recorded songs were clearly written with Ralf's hefty vocals in mind, but Kai does well enough, especially on the faster songs that call for his soaring style. Overall, I don't know if this is a particularly vital release, but definitely shows how Gamma Ray has finally established their style. Enjoyable, but probably not vital outside of diehard fans.
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