Musically it has all of the elements that makes successful power metal bands. With two guitarists in the band, the keyboards do not dominate as much as other bands of the genre have, which initially helps to sell this album to me. As much as I can appreciate the keyboard being a heavy player in this style of metal, sometimes it can be overpowering and just take over a bit too much. For the most part here though, it is present and noticeable in the songs, but it is the twin guitars that enjoy the majority of riffing and soloing. Add to this the solid rhythm section of double kick drums along with the effective if simplified bass work and the basis of some great songs appears set.
So, what is it that stops me from fully embracing this album? In the main, it is the lead singing of Nitte Valo. The vocals are just too way over the top for my liking. We all know what power metal is supposed to be like and we know that the vocals have got to be high, and they need to be able to reach the limits of the human voice when it comes to hitting those high notes. Unfortunately, the vocals chords of Nitte come as close to a screech as is possible without actually breaking into one - or maybe they do, and it has been cleverly hidden. In the long run, they feel and sound uncomfortable. It just doesn't sound like singing, it sounds like wailing, and that just isn't the same. Even her normal level singing doesn't quite fit what I was expected or wished to hear. You can check out "Iron Hand" as an example. It's just too much vocally, which somewhat overshadows what otherwise could be a quite effective song. She does sometimes sound like she wants to be a female version of Accept's Udo Dirkschneider. Scary. However, having harped on this far too long, it comes across slightly hypocritical in that I listen to death metal bands whose vocals are uninterpretable because of their grunt gruff screaming, and accept it.
Putting this aside for the moment, this is an otherwise serviceable debut album. Opening with "Enter the Metal World" we get a solid based song that certainly imitates an Accept song, with some attempted Yngwie Malmsteen solos thrown in as well. "Cyberspace" has a very Gamma Ray-like sound to it, both musically and the harmony of the vocals. "Show Me How to Die" goes on far too much with this exclamation during the chorus, extending out beyond what is feasible or even vaguely interesting. "Savage and Saint" as a power ballad is neither enough of a ballad to satisfy those fans, nor enough of a melody to pull in those without a love of this kind of song.
As much as this tries to pull at the heart strings of a metal lover, for me this ends up being just an average release. There would certainly be an audience for this out there, but given everything else that is being recorded in the world at the moment this doesn't quite reach the necessary heights. Despite the criticism I have directed here, there is certainly a platform for launching off in the future.
Rating: Enter the metal world. 3/5.
No comments:
Post a Comment