Six years after the strong debut Food For Thought Substitute, Heaven’s Cry is back with the promisingly titled Primal Power Addiction. Both records have been re-released in 2013, and are even available as a bundle. The new version of the second release features a slightly revised track list, for example. The six years were definitely worth the wait, as this second release manages to beat out the first. While the debut contained more metal-oriented tracks, a rather epic feeling, and a couple of longer songs, the second strike includes a bunch of shorter songs with tight song writing, and without any unnecessary lengths. These tracks hit faster and are even catchier than the previous songs. While a few are even heavier than the tracks on the debut release, Primal Power Addiction is overall even calmer and more progressive than its predecessor.

Just as the first record did, Primal Power Addiction opens with the hardest song on the album. On the re-release, the band decided to place the energizing “Komma” in the first position instead of the calmer and progressive “2k Awe Tick”. This was definitely the right decision, as it opens the album with a bang and takes no prisoners. The band also switched a couple of other tracks out, and the new version of the record turns out sounding much more coherent and fluid than before. “Komma” should take the metal fans by storm with its almost thrashy riffs, progressive breaks, and oriental guitar sounds that add an exotic touch to the opener and serve as a guiding line throughout this diversified and passionate outburst. Even the vocals have become much more versatile than before. This kind of track should please fans of bands such as Voivod for sure. The influence of Quebec’s most important metal band becomes even more evident on the highly imaginative “Waves”. The abrupt and mechanical (but still surprisingly catchy) opening riff could have come straight come from their late guitarist Denis “Piggy” d’Amour. The faster middle part of “A Higher Moral Ground” brilliantly meanders from progressive, thrash metal-driven riffs to more melodic power metal influences, and then back to hectic but refreshingly straight progressive metal passages. This is also comparable to some works of Voivod, but surpasses rather than copying them.

Overall however, the record has become calmer and is mostly driven by a dreamy, floating, seventies’ or eighties’ progressive rock atmosphere. The vivid “Masterdom’s Profit” and the catchy “A New Paradigm” are, for example, not a far cry from projects like Ayreon (with its spacey keyboard sounds), or a retro atmosphere reminding me of more traditional progressive rock bands like Yes (without sounding too old fashioned). The bass guitar driven “Divisions”, with its cinematic introduction, the slow paced but very emotionally sung “Remembrance”, and especially the dark “One Of Twenty-Four”, with its exotic and progressive acoustic and electric guitar work, are three tracks that represent the logical progression of the band’s sound, and can easily be described as three, almost equally great, smooth progressive rock or metal masterpieces. “The Inner Stream Remains” impresses me even more, as it features a great laid back drum track, peacefully pumping bass guitar lines, harmonious acoustic guitars, and decent keyboards. The emotional vocals really make this song stand out. This track is like the best Queensrÿche ballad that that band never wrote.

The cherry on the cake is the absolutely outstanding cover of the popular “Beds Are Burning”, by Australian rock stars Midnight Oil (which is one of my favorite commercial rock songs ever). The original track is great, but Heaven’s Cry has managed to do what only a few bands could. They’ve made an excellent song perfect. They kept all the important elements of the catchy original track and added some of their own trademarks to it. Let’s cite the powerful and dominating bass play that starts the track with a little surprise, and add the shimmering acoustic guitar sounds that fit perfectly to the track. The riffs have become straighter and the drum play tighter, but they are not too far away from the successful original recipe. The vocals are powerful as well, and the song doesn’t even sounds as if it was from a different band. When I bought this record, I listened to this track at least twenty times in the first two days. The song never let me go, and I consider this to be the best cover of a song I’ve ever heard.

In the end, this record has no fillers and is full of creativity that will grow and grow on you. As I simply can’t find anything negative about this release, I’m ready to do something I rarely do and give the perfect rating to this haunting and imaginative album. You definitely shouldn’t miss this progressive rock and metal masterpiece, and expand your horizons with these underground progressive heroes.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal

Eight years after its previous output, Montreal’s progressive metal act Heaven’s Cry comes around with its third full length release entitled Wheels Of Impermanence. In comparison to Food For Thought Substitute, which opened up to me after only two spins, and Primal Power Addiction, which immediately hit me like a train and has become one of my all time favorite progressive metal records, the band’s third output is more sophisticated and definitely harder to digest.

Most of the band’s trademarks, such as the vivid bass guitar play, the powerhouse drumming, and the quite unique and perfectly imperfect vocals are still present, and quite convincing at that. While the guitar riffs are still good, and probably heavier than before, I miss some of the great harmonies and charming melodies that made the first two outputs so special. Let’s also add that this record lacks catchy hooks and more commercial tracks like “Your God’s Crime”, “A New Paradigm”, or the exceptional Midnight Oil cover “Beds Are Burning” have been present on the band’s past releases.

This is especially why the songs with additional instruments are more convincing this time around, and help add some diversity to the mix. The piano work in “The Hollow” makes the dynamic song special, and reminds a little bit of modern Dream Theater. This song also includes what is probably the record’s best guitar solo. The dreamy and epic chants and the soft keyboard layers in the title track “Wheels Of Impermanence” are stunning, and contain everything I expect from a great progressive metal song. “Consequence” includes saxophone parts that add a colorful note and make this piece of music really stand out. Amorphis has already proven how great saxophones can fit to progressive metal music in their masterpiece “Alone”, and even if Heaven’s Cry doesn’t quite reach that level, they pull together a very decent song here.

The other songs aren’t bad per se, but they rush by without any truly memorable passages. Even after four or five spins, the songs are nice to listen to, but fail to impress or even grow on me. This is still a very good progressive metal album, but definitely the weakest release of the band’s so far. Heaven’s Cry fans should get this album anyway, but occasional fans should stick to the first two outputs. The band is working on a fourth album which hopefully won’t wait to be released until 2020. I remain curious to hear and see what they will do next.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal

Hwimory is a power metal band from Incheon, South Korea that’s been around the local scene for the last decade or so, and in 2010 released its first self-titled release. Guitar player Lee Jae-Wook also plays for a heavy metal band from Seoul called Mir, but Hwimory is inspired by pure classic European power metal. Apart from the Korean language, there is nothing exotic about this release. The album includes no folk, orchestral, or progressive elements, doesn’t shift to hard rock or heavy metal music, and no guest singers or musicians have been invited as is the case for many contemporary genre bands. Hwimory simply offers eight melodic, up-tempo anthems plus a short introduction in the key of traditional Helloween and Gamma Ray. The band also sounds a lot like earlier Stratovarius, HammerFall, and especially Edguy in the mid to late nineties. Fans of mainstream European power metal will need to give this a try.

As you might guess, the songs are based on powerful riffs and fast melodic solos. The drum play is fast and dynamic, and the bass guitar follows the patterns of drums and guitars but also has a few shining moments of its own. Some tracks include a few keyboard samples in the background, and they are rarely but decently employed. The vocalist offers everything a European power metal fan could wish for: a good high tone and a few energizing screams. However, he also sings a few lower parts and doesn’t sound too forced and high pitched all the time. Bak Jae-Beom reminds me a lot of a young Tobias Sammet, in fact.

There is nothing special to mention about the songs. One could say that they are generic power metal, performed with conviction. I must admit that the opening anthem “Higher” includes so many genre stereotypes that it put a little smile on my face. On the other hand, it also includes a short bass guitar solo in the middle after many ferocious guitar solos which, which is an element that I like a lot. My favorite track is probably the epic closer “A Bear – Part I”, which starts with a few darker and harsher riffs and melodic solos before the track grows more atmospheric (thanks to the keyboard) and prepares for a passionate vocal performance that sets in after two minutes. The song isn’t a firework of originality, but it features all of the elements that you either adore or hate about European power metal even though this band comes from an entirely different peninsula.

Fans of European power metal that are looking for a band that goes back to the basics should definitely check out Hwimory. Europeans get a free lesson on how to play their very own genre quite accurately by this quintet from Incheon.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal

Iced Earth has always been a hit and miss band for me. The thrashy American power metal institution has released a few very great, underrated records, but also some overlong and overrated disasters. The band seemed to be reborn from its ashes again with the arrival of Canadian singer Stu Block on Dystopia. The record wasn’t a masterpiece, but it sounded fresh, passionate, and straight enough to call this release a return to strength. That’s why I was eager to find out how a new singer, another new bass player, and a new session drummer might have brought a wind of change to the band on Plagues Of Babylon. The new release has, as usual, a whole lot of positive criticism from the predictable and dependent (for the label) big-name magazines and websites and not from truly independent writers such as myself.

To tell you the truth, nothing has changed at all because Jon Schaffer constantly does everything on his own. Sounds to me like he’s back to his Something Wicked storyline once again here. The new and old band members don’t really bring anything new to the sound, either. The first five songs sound old-fashioned and exchangeable. We get to hear mid-tempo to mid-up-tempo power metal with thrash metal influences that are all too familiar. Schaffer recycles some worn-out riffs, and the vocals are less unique than before, sounding like a Matt Barlow clone. The first two tracks in particular drag on far too long with unnecessary introductions. The pseudo-epic choruses are so predictable that it’s almost as amusing as a Manowar album. Fans might argue that the first five songs are typical Iced Earth anthems, but I find this rehash extremely boring.

There are a few guest vocalists on this record, but they don’t really add anything to this rather ordinary album. The background vocals by Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kürsch are almost inaudible, and can be described as a complete waste of talent. That being said, the collaboration with Symphony X vocalist Russell Allen and Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen on “The Highwayman” is also quite faceless and ineffective. The fact that the band included two cover songs on this album, plus a laughable and completely unnecessary outro only shows off Schaffer’s lack of ideas.

The album gets a little bit more imaginative towards the middle part. I hoped that “The End?” was the end of the Something Wicked storyline, but instead it’s a decent mid-tempo track with a few dynamic changes and an atmosphere reminding me of Iron Maiden’s epics of the eighties. This song would have been an average song on some of the band’s past efforts, but is this record’s stand-out, which tells you a lot about the quality of this release.

Some songs have a few great moments but can’t convince me as a whole. The smoothly evolving “Peacemaker”, with its diversified vocal performance and a very cool guitar solo, is almost great until the chorus is repeated way too often towards the end. “Parasite” works the other way around, and starts with another predictable and exchangeable half-ballad tone before the gripping vocals in the chorus really save this song. Many songs have similar structures, and only a few individual efforts such as the vocals and a few emotional guitar solos put these tracks above an ordinary average level.

In the end, a few good tracks in the middle of the record save this album from being a complete failure. Nevertheless, it’s already a solid candidate for one of this young year’s greatest flops. This release is for die-hard fans and collectors only. If you want to hear similar music of a higher quality, go for the last Shadow Host album.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal

Since Lemmy's death and the subsequent end of Motorhead, Anvil are perhaps the only remaining band that still represents classic heavy metal and rock 'n' roll lifestyle these days. While Lemmy and his band are slightly overrated by the masses, Anvil never got the credit it truly deserved. The indestructible Canadian trio doesn't offer anything new on its sixteenth studio record but does what it knows best with an addicting charm, energy and passion.

If compared to the unfairly underrated predecessor ''Hope in Hell'' that offered almost everything from doom metal over rock and roll to speed metal, ''Anvil is Anvil'' sounds a lot more homogeneous. Nearly all songs here are classic mid-tempo heavy metal tunes. Some people might claim that this is a prrof of consistency but I think that this output includes a few more fillers than the last one. The band can still convince with certain parts in their average tracks. ''Ambush'' includes the most emotional guitar solo on the entire album even if the rest is rather exchangeable. The rhythmical stomper ''Gun Control'' and the drum-driven ''Die for a Lie'' include some intelligent lyrics about controversially discussed topics.

The band though convinces most when it actually tries out something new. The opener ''Daggers and Rum'' is an absolutely brilliant pirate anthem that should work extremely well in concert. With its great choirs and gang shouts, simple yet heavy riffs and joyous violin samples, this track is better than anything bands such as Running Wild have released in decades. The song manages to offer something new to the band sound after so many years. It's played with so much enthusiasm that the out-of-tone vocals don't take anything away from the efficiency of this track but might even add a raw charme to it. The bass-driven and slow stomper ''Zombie Apocalypse'' convinces with a darker, more hypnotizing and more psychedelic mood than usual even if the topic has been overused in the genre over the past few years. The drum- and bass-driven closer ''Forgive Don't Forget'' is short and to the point and offers both intelligent lyrics and a simplistic yet catchy anthemic chorus. The bonus track ''Never Going to Stop'' is also worth your attention and turns out to be a passionate rock 'n' roll anthem that sums up everything this genre represents and this band stands for.

Despite a few average tracks that can especially be found in the first half of the record, Anvil offers another passionate release somewhere between hard rock and heavy metal. Despite the old school trademarks, the band's enthusiasm is not only timeless but even an example to follow for many other veterans that only offer tired routine jobs these days and for the next generation that often tends to forget about the roots of heavy metal. The album title ''Anvil is Anvil'' sums up everything this band stands for and what this album sounds like. Fans will definitely adore this release and those who have never liked Anvil will clearly not change their minds about this band after this album. Those who are still mourning the loss of Motorhead should turn the page and enjoy this record and band to the fullest, if possible in concert somewhere near you.

Final rating: 75%