Vacant Throne - Fall Of The Feathered King (2012) - Clever mix of old school hints and own trademarks - 75% (12/08/12)

Vacant Throne are a promising American Power Metal band with guts that kicks off a surprisingly well done debut record with "Fall Of The Feathered King". The album features many heavy mid tempo riffs that dominate the energizing song structures. The drumming is dynamic enough to convince, the bass guitar audible and tight when it needs to impress and especially the guitar solos are well performed. They are technically well played but still emotional. They don't dominate the tracks and are used in healthy doses just how it should be. The vocals sound though a little bit out of tone but this may also partially be caused by an average production. After a while, one finally gets used to the grounded, melodic and quite diversified old school performance but if there was a weaker element I needed to cite I would still clearly pick up the vocals. Maybe it's just me but I also feel that the pronounciation of the vocals sounds a little bit strange. This is quite weird if one considers the fact that these guys come from the United States of America and that English is their mother's tongue but they clearly don't sound too American from many points of view..

Musically, these guys have a lot of talent but some of their songs are definitely too long like the more or less convincing opener "The Jaguar Knight" that doesn't come straight enough as an opener or the somewhat overlong "The Return To Quetzalcoatl" where the songwriting would have needed some more focus. A few shorter tracks with more catchier parts would have helped to create a better final flow.

The band though shows some variations throughout the release. The opening bass riff of "Voyage To The New World" is a little bit taken off Iron Maiden's "Running Free" in my humble opinion but the song turns out to be a quite catchy old school track that seems to be clearly influenced by the legendary New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. The Americans come about thirty years too late with this track that could have become a genre highlight back in the days. It's still an enjoyable feel good song nowadays. Another outstanding track is the dark progressive album closer "Genocide" that features the singer John Yelland from the promising underground progressive metal band Disforia. The track could have been shortened about one or two minutes once again but it's still decent enough thanks to the good guest vocals that fit really well to this almost Doom sounding closer.

In the end, this release is a quite promising starting point for such a young band. They are technically skilled and know how to make catchy old school metal by chosing the right idols and ingredients. On the other side, some tracks don't get to the point and are too long against their own good. The vocals are a little bit strange to me but can be regarded as a trademark for the band. Remember that almost any famous metal band had its controversial singers and it's a positive thing that the vocals make this band stand out from their influences. They are clever enough to look for their own identity instead of only copying the stuff they clearly like and they should even head mor einto this direction in the future. If these guys would now get a better production with some more budget in the future, the stars could be aligned for a promising career. It's a long way to the top if you want to play this kind of old school Heavy and Power Metal but these guys are clearly among the best younger acts of the Heavy Metal revival that I have heard throughout the last years and I hope they'll carry on.