Just like last time, I decided to do another set of reviews. While I do have more diversity in my playlist below for this year, it's still pretty power metal heavy, especially when you have excellent albums like Kamelot's Epica, Sonata Arctica's Winterheart's Guild, and Twilightning's Delirium Veil. And yet, here I am, adding even more power metal! Seriously, the stretch from the late 90s to the early 2000s really was the peak era for this genre, with plenty of solid and fascinating albums!
This is a band that has carved it's own peculiar niche. While they're very safely within the bounds of typical heavy/power metal, their approach has been to embrace the cheesiness with a unique gusto, often getting tongue-in-cheek about it. Their first album provided many of the typical power metal clichés, involving all kinds of double-bass-kicking fantasy and triumph, but I've always come back it as a solid gem in its own right. Now that I've listened to the follow up, it largely is more of the same, though with a stronger theme of horror and madness.
Not that this is a concept album by any means, but they've certainly traded in their swords and dragons for nightmares and insanity. However, the songwriting remains pretty solid, focusing on tight song structures, good melodic hooks, and excellent guitar work courtesy of Fredrik Nordström and the now iconic Gus G, back when he was in a few different power metal bands. However, I think the real key is Niklas Isfeldt's vocals. I'm not quite sure what it is, but he brings the right mix of melodrama and power to these songs, singing some pretty cheesy lyrics that might not have worked coming from anyone with less confidence and bravado.
Things start off well with the opener "Break the Chains," with its 12/8 rhythms kicking into high gear at the end of the song. "Fight You 'till the End" has a pretty solid chorus, "Children of the Night" has an interesting hard rock vibe, and "Fear the Night" is pretty catchy for being on the darker side. While I think their debut Dragonslayer is a little stronger, this is still a solid effort by a band who knows how to be consistent without becoming tedious.
Does anyone remember Pandora Radio? When I first got into metal in the late 2000s, Pandora got big at around the same time, and so I made a power metal station, which helped me to discover a bunch of other power metal bands. In the mix were a handful of songs from this Australian band, and while I liked them, I hadn't sat down and listened through one of their albums until now. So once again, I'm using the Anniversary Articles to check out the debut of another band I'd been meaning to get to for quite a while. The result is an album that's definitely rough around the edges, but has plenty of energy and drive.
Despite coming out in 2003, I feel like this album would be right at home in the mid 90s, beside the early works of bands like Edguy, Kamelot, or HammerFall. Vocalist John Cavaliere gives me some Geoff Tate vibes, so there's some Queensryche in there as well. The production is a little chunky, and not as clear as I think I would have liked, but it doesn't hold the band back much. Pavel Konvalinka drumming keeps things driving ahead, making for a very tight, high-energy listen. There were a few times where it felt like the lyrics weren't quite fitting the vocal melody as well as they could, but otherwise, this is some very melodic metal, featuring some very good vocal harmonies and other layering effects.
"Guardian" and "Journey's End" stand out as being particularly catchy, but the rest of the album is pretty consistent without feeling too tedious, and they're not afraid to let a song just flow for a bit, creating their own atmosphere. While it doesn't stand out from the power metal crowd, it's definitely a solid start for a band. I'll need to check out the rest of their albums, as I'm sure the production will improve from here.
This is another band I first heard of through Pandora, but never really got around to, outside of a song or two. This started as a side-project for Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch of Helloween, but when they got fired from that band, they decided to go full-on with it, grabbing the metal journeyman Jorn to sing their lyrics. Now that I have an excuse to check it out with this Anniversary Article, the result is some decent, if curious, power metal anthems.
To be honest, I was expecting a stronger Helloween vibe, but as I listened to it, the songs felt more like a combination of a lot of power metal bands from the time. Of course, Jorn brings his soulful crooning, and he sounds excellent. However, the songwriting is what really stands out here, as there is some interesting ideas here. Starting with a pretty standard power metal sound, most of the songs have very curious bridge and solo sections that change things up quite a bit. I wouldn't say they're proggy, necessarily, but there are parts where it feels like it's kind of trying to find something new in the power metal box, and it largely succeeds. I don't know if any of it is really innovative, but it does provide more than a few shake-ups to the formula.
That being said, this is still very much in power metal territory. The opening track "Spirit Never Die," "Heroes," and "Crawling from Hell" all have strong Helloween vibes, "Kind Hearted Light" has a synth riff on top that makes me think of Stratovarius or Freedom Call, and Jorn's vocals keep things pretty epic all the way through. While I don't think this outshines some of the better albums of the year, Masterplan's self-titled debut has more meat on the bone than I certainly expected.
So I guess that will do for 2003. I feel like I'm doing double-duty between these articles and the Last Played ones, listening to and reviewing all kinds of albums. However, I'm planning on a more typical Anniversary Article for next month, as plenty of interesting albums came out in 2008. As always, check out the playlist, and let me know if you think there's anything I've missed for 2003. Until then, rock on! \m/
