Vorpal Nomad – Hyperborea (2012)

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Delivering nine tracks of catchy Power Metal, today we have Colombia’s “Hyperborea” released through Canada’s Metalodic Records. With a well-crafted sound, this band goes beyond your average Power Metal band to create solid songs that while not featuring the best vocalist in the world, they make up for it in technical abilities.

Setting the mood with “Skull Island” the band shows the riffing power with well-created melodic sections and a very heavy sound. The guitar sound indeed is a bit weird of this type of music, but the band actually pulls it off, giving them a different sound from your average Power Metal band. The vocals of Felipe Machado Franco not the best and reminds us of the guy we always see in karaoke night trying to do some Iron Maiden songs… not the best indeed. However, this is rescued by pretty decent guitar solos.

As “The Brotherhood”, “Final Cry For Freedom”, and “The Mad Hatter” go on without too many things to mention, other than excellent solos and good guitar work, one of our favorite tracks is the moody “Last Hero on Earth”. In this song the band features a very playful old-school vibe that many bands wish they could create. The vocal work in this song is pretty solid and nicely leads up to the tight solo near the end of the song. By this point we are starting to notice the band’s very formulaic approach to music, but as long as it sounds good, we can’t really complain much.

Before the closing bonus track, “As The Otherworld Falls Down” is the band’s most ambitious song in this release clocking almost 10 minutes. In this song, the opening screams are pretty average and it is clear that they are not ready for long songs since they seem to get a bit dull after a while with all the repetition in this song. There are some cool riffs and melodic sections, but they kind of feel tossed into the mix to make the songs longer just for the sake of it.

In general this release feature some good music but the singing, some of the formulaic elements, and some mind-numbing repetition really start taking away from “Hyperborea”. There is no doubt that then band’s core is very proficient and that the guitarists are top-notch, but they need to work a bit more on their songs and go instrumental (or kick the singer out). While not a completely bad release, we can’t really recommend this album to fans of Power Metal, unless you find it on the bargain bin.

Band: Vorpal Nomad Album: Hyperborea
Label: Metalodic Records

Release: May 21st, 2012

Oficial Site myspace

Genre: Power Metal

Country: Colombia

Rating: 75/100
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