• Helloween - Straight Out Of Hell (2013)

     

    2013 seems to be a promising year for European power metal after many weak years with mediocre releases.

    This record here includes still a couple of undeniable flaws but the band is definitely on a good way to return to old strengths. The production still sounds too clinical, hard and modern but it already feels less cold and more vivid than the last two releases. The new record includes a few filler tracks such as the boring ballad "Hold Me In Your Arms" and the exchangeable power metal songs "Years" as well as the harder "Make Fire Catch The Fly". The title track is also one of the more forgettable songs. With only about nine or ten songs including the strong bonus tracks like the atmospheric "Another Shot Of Life" or the catchy Japanese bonus gem "No Eternity", this record would have almost been on one level with Stratovarius' new output "Nemesis".

    Despite these flaws, the band included some of the best songs written in years on this album that should please to any fan of the Deris years. The first highlight is the historically inspired "Nabataea" that includes intriguing lyrics, many changes of style and a very catchy chorus. This epic kicks off the record on a very high note and is probably the best song on here. Along with Stratovarius' "Unbreakable", this track that also has a very well done video clip is the best European power metal single in years and probably since Edguy's "King Of Fools". The other epic track in form of the album closer "Church Breaks Down" has some well done atmospheric parts and a creative middle part but is overall a little bit too straight forward and modern in my ears without being only of an average quality.

    For the power metal maniacs, the band included many new melodic anthems on this release such as the fast "World Of War" or the positive "Far From The Stars". Those who like the calmer side of the band should check out "Waiting For The Thunder" that could come straight from "The Dark Ride". That's why this release should be relevant for any fan of the Deris era and the final product can almost be seen as some sort of original retrospective of the last twenty years or so.

    The band though skipped the too humorous and silly parts which gives this album a quite consistent and mature touch that I like. Even the tracks with strange names such as "Asshole" turn out to be way better than what you might expect. This song is for example a hard and grooving track with some well employed vocal effects and a few memorable lyrics. The shhort "Wanna Be God" is dedicated to Freddie Mercury and reminds of a mean and modern version of "We Will Rock You" which sounds surprisingly entertaining. The band really put a lot of creative efforts into this record.

    In the end, "Straight Out Of Hell" is a creative and diversified record that never gets boring even though there are a few less convincing experiments and some filler material here and there. The strong tracks are great enough to pardon for the exchangeable moments and include the best songs the band has written in years. Songs like the glorious epic "Nabataea", the melodic mid tempo anthem and grower "Burning Sun" that is also featured in a version including hammond organs that is dedicated to Jon Lord on the limited edition, the dark ballad "Waiting For The Thunder", the simplistic but highly enjoyable "Asshole" and the almost cinematic and darkly sacral closer "Church Breaks Down" alone are worth the purchase of this record and will soon be considered as modern classics of its genre. Any fan of European power metal should grab this release and celebrate a return to form of the unbreakable German power metal veterans.

     

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  • Stratovarius - Nemesis (2013)

     

    This is something I didn't expect!

    While I really liked Stratovarius' previous and more progressive output "Elysium", the band was going through quite hard times including many line-up changes and even after the split with the main songwriter and charismatic guitarist Timo Tolkki, the band had to face several problems. Let's say that with the exception of "Elysium", the band had released four rather bad albums in a row before and I was sceptical about their new output. Their drummer Jörg Michael had to fight cancer and had to be replaced by Alex Landenburg for several concerts. When he was finally back on bord, he soon decided to call it quits and the band had to integrate once again a new member in their line-up. The young Rolf Pilve was chosen as new drummer and he does a quite good job on this first album he recorded with the Finnish power metal veterans without taking too much space.

    What really surprised me is not the fact that the band managed to release a very strong record only two years after their last output. It's not the fact that the new band member was nearly perfectly integrated in a quite short time. It's not that this record sounds as if all these problems wouldn't have never had any significiant impact on Stratovarius at all. It's rather the fact that the band moved away from its softer and more progressive sounds and created an energizing and truly metal orientated record with gripping riffs, glorious choruses and loads of fresh ideas. In fact, the band pulls off its greatest record since "Visions" and even beats this power metal milestone. I would go as far to say that this record is clearly the band's second best release ever after the unbeatable "Dreamspace".

    I was looking for filler material on this record but there isn't any. Instead, the band kicks of with one of their hardest songs ever which is the energizing "Abandon" that immediately grabs your attention. The sound is crystal clear, the atmosphere is dark, epic and heavy, the riffs are surprisingly fast and brutal and Timo Kotipelto delivers one of his best and most varied vocal performances. Majestic choirs add a truly epic touch to this stunning opener. The guitar solos are fast, melodic and have guts. I would say that this is the best opener the band has ever written to date as it really takes no prisoners and impressed me right from the start.

    What follows next is the first single "Unbreakable" which is at least the best single since the famous "Hunting High And Low" thirteen years ago or "S.O.S." fifteen years ago. The song has warm but modern keyboard sounds but also energizing riffs and a catchy main melody as well as a chorus you won't forget anytime soon. This energizing song is an immediate classic and an inevitable live hymn for the concerts to come. While European power metal has been going through rather hard times in the last seven or eight years, this new year 2013 seems to mark a definite return to form for many bands. Together with Helloween's "Nabatea", Stratovarius probably put out the best single of that genre in one decade with "Unbreakable", maybe since Edguy's "King Of Fools" EP back in early 2004.

    The great thing is that the band continues on such a high level. "Stand My Ground" starts with an almost industrial feeling and is another very metal orientated track with dark riffs and an almost cinematic atmosphere. The song is fast and anybody who still thinks Stratovarius can only be a soft flower metal band is proven wrong with this song. The more laid back chorus crowns this track with an epic and majestic feeling without sounding too cheesy or predictable. Great melodic guitar solos, a vividly pumping bass guitar and many original keyboard patterns make this song very diversified but it doesn't sound too overloaded to my positive surprise. This song has an almost sacral feeling and is another instant classic.

    "Halycon Days" has once again a cinematic touch and is a quite dark and hard track. It's still surprising to hear this kind of music from Stratovarius but at this point anything seems to be possible. The track has atmospheric and almost melancholic verses while the fast paced chorus is incredibly positive and light-hearted. Timo Kotipelto sings like a young god once again. Guess what, this is another killer song.

    The rest of the songs vary between very well done tracks and more than just solid anthems even though the first four songs remain my favourite ones. The band manages to mix light-hearted keyboard sounds with surprisingly heavy and sometimes almost thrash metal orientated riffs and epic choruses where the singer does the best work of his entire career so far. From slightly commcercial potential single hits such as the eighties' metal or rock anthem "Fantasy" over classic European power metal anthems that could have also hit the charts fifteen years ago like "Dragons" up to well executed and not too cheesy half ballads as "If The Story Is Over", the band offers anything a fan expects, anything a critical mind needs to get convinced and anything to surprise even those who have remained sceptical towards this band.

    This is probably the best European power metal record in years. If you only care a little bit for this genre, than you have no choice but buying this gem. Stratovarius are back and this year finally seems to be a good year for power metal music.

     

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  • Zindan - Depth (2010)

     

    Metal music has beecome a global phenomenon over the last years that I've followed very closely and that's why I wasn't surprised to hear of a band hailing from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. What really impressed me though is the mostly high song writing quality, the solid production and the surprisingly professional musicianship of this debut record of the progressive extreme metal band Zindan. The record is called "Depth" and that's what the band indeed displays: diversified and well arranged songs that mix anything from psychedelic moments over slightly oriental folk elements up to great death and thrash metal parts.

    A track like "Facing One Another" is a perfect example of this mixture of genres. I immediately liked the track but it will maybe take several spins for other metal fans to get into this complex and slightly chaotic track. Chilling folk moments and relaxing psychedelic chants one one side meet funky bass parts and fast extreme metal eruptions on the other side. "In the Depth of Zindan" is another highlight that taps the same vein but it is almost twice as long. The song has great progressive elements but also heavy doom metal influenced parts that make this song the most atmospheric one on the entire disc. The closing epic "Kings" is also quite demanding but less efficient as it has a few lengths and features an odd finish including a pointless drum solo and unnecessary studio dialogues as some sort of a hidden track. Without these overlong and silly parts, the track would have been a good seven or eight minute long epic but the way it is the record ends on a rather low note.

    These very challenging songs are interrupted by shorter songs as the outstanding and vivid folk track "Chinvat" that has a very hypnotizing and slightly menacing atmopshere. The band can though also focus on even calmer and more minimalist tracks. Let's cite the great ballad "Life Without Aim" that makes me think of a Metallica ballad in the key of a "Nothing Else Matters". Calm breaks and beautiful guitar solos make this song stand out even if the whole thing could have been shortened by two minutes or so in my humble opinion. The vocals sound grounded and still emotional in this song that could also please to a larger audience outside the metal community. It's the same thing for the opening "In Haze" that sounds quite modern and mixes extreme metal vocals with cleaner parts. Without exactly being contemporary metalcore, this track has a structure that could please a lot of fans of that genre.

    In the end, this band from Central Asia definitely has a lot of talent and plays some excellent progressive extreme metal. The calmer tracks as well as the folk driven moments are welcome changes and well executed as well. The band should only focus on a more coherent and compact song writing next time to get even better as some songs simply include too many ideas or get a little bit redundant after a while. Despite these small flaws of the debut record, this album is highly recommandable for any progressive and extreme metal fan. I can't wait to hear more of this talented band and am once again psoitively surprised by the absolutely positive elements of the globalization of metal music.

     

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  • 复活 / Resurrection - 国殇 / National Martyr (2006)

     

    复活 or Resurrection is an extreme metal band from Nanjing in the Jiangsu province. The band plays quite fast and pitiless speed or thrash metal with vocals that head for a blackened approach but also for loads of death metal moments at other moments. The only more laid back moments on the album are the relaxing "Intro", the chilling regular album closer "Elegy" and the surprisingly progressive and diversified album highlight "Calling From Nether World".

    The band definitely has some technical abilities and employs many crunching guitar riffs and quickly changing drum patterns. A big problem is though the sound of this low budget production. Especially the drum sound is very amateurish and limited. It sounds too dry and artificial. On the other side, there are a few unnecessary echo sounds as well. The bass sound also lacks of gripping dynamics. Interesting parts as the opening moments of the epic "Battle of Nayahuo" suffer the most from that limited sound that might though please to old school extreme metal purists. Even the guitar sound is quite thin as soon as we hear both of these instruments playing something different. In modern times, I though expect better standards and an improved sound would have made this release a lot more enjoyable. With a clearer production, this record would have been worth up to ten percent more than I have actually given to it.

    Another criticial point is the lack of variation on this release. Apart of the very short opener and closer and the two epic tracks that dispaly some talent and a solid song writing, many tracks sound rather exchangeable and closed minded. These songs are good stuff for hours of agression and despair but they don't fit to the mostly historically inspired epic lyrics at all.

    A great little gem are though the three bonus tracks on this release that have been taken from an older demo. These tracks are inspired by solid traditional Skandinavian death metal and have very intense vocals. Some of these songs also include calmer interludes and slightly progressive breaks such as "Ceremonious Funeral" or my personal favourite "Edge of Night". The sound is sometimes rather chaotic and the bass guitar is quite inaudible but the drum and guitar sound is overall even more appropriated than the tracks of the regular studio release which came as a big surprise to me. Personally, I like the sound and style of these three bonus songs a lot more than the actual material.

    In the end, there are a lot of lights and shades on this release. I would cite the epic tracks as well as teh bonus material as highlights with apromising song writing and a few great ideas. On the negative side there are too many exchangeable song and a rather bad production and sound. Extreme metal experts and fans should though grab this exotic gem and won't be disappointed. Any rathe roccasional genre fan can skip this release without any bad conscience and should rather head for more professional Chinese extreme metal releases coming from bands such as Ego Fall, Screaming Savior, Suffocated, Terminal Lost, Voodoo Kungfu and so on.

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  • Holy Dragons - Волки Одина / Wolves Of Odin (2005)

     

    Holy Dragons is a power metal band from Almaty, Kazakhstan that is a lot better than its cheesy band name might suggest you at first sight. The band plays in fact power metal with grounded vocals and guts. They skip all unnecessary stuff such as narrations or interludes, symphonic elements, acoustic ballads and too cheesy ten minute epics about the usual exchangeable topics. These guys play quite fast and gripping stuff and take no prisoners with their fresh and unconventional approach. The band is sometimes closer to classic heavy metal or speed metal than to power metal itself. The musicians also got some talent. The guitar solos are perfectly executed. The riffs are energizing and true neckbreakers. The bass guitar is audible and has its strong lead moments. Imagine a faster and more technical mixture of Aria, Blind Guardian and Grave Digger. Listen to an energizing masterpiece such as "Рагнарек" and you know what I mean.

    This sounds all quite promising but this honest band still has a big problem. The song patterns all sound quite similar and exchangeable and the whole strategy isn't quite impressive anymore after a few songs. The first six songs all sound too alike and the listener gets quickly bored. Just before the listeners decides to skip the rest, the band pulls off a few great songs towards the end like the very Russian sounding half ballad "Призрак шабаша", the aformentioned "Рагнарек" and the slightly more modern and darker "Волки Oдина" where some more high pitched vocals remind me of Iced Earth. These three songs are definitely the most outstanding tracks on here and definitely highlights of their genre.

    Three excellent tracks still don't make a great record but the album is nevertheless enjoyable enough to sit it through and wait for a great second half after all. For all those who like honest power metal with guts and speed, this band and this release are a pleasent offering. Anybody else should give this release a few spins to see if it grows and if the unusual approach of the band pleases. I would though check out the band's other releases to see if the song writing has been or become more consistent as on this mixed bag before purchasing this album.

     

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