Power Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Sabaton – Carolus Rex (2012)

    cover

    After their epic-as-fuck release “Coat of Arms”, our favorite war inspired Power Metal band returns with the awesome “Carolus Rex”. Arriving in both English and Swedish versions, this release is a worthy continuation of their impressive back catalogue of releases keeping things nearly identical to their past releases, but with an even more epic atmosphere.

    Sabaton in a certain way is very similar to Amon Amarath, they both found a niche were they are the best and very slowly keep adding minimal things to their sound to make it even more impressive. Opening with the very epic and full of choir sections, “The Lion from the North” (after the traditional filler intro track), Sabaton instantly sets the mood for such an excellent release. “Gott Mit Uns” delivers waves of powerful guitar riffs and Joakim Brodén’s excellent vocals.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Winters Verge – Beyond Vengeance (2012)

    cover

    Today we have Cyprus very own Winters Verge delivering one of the most impressive Power Metal releases of 2012 with “Beyond Vengeance”. The band nicely provides a worthy follower to their very well crafted 2010 release “Tales of Tragedy”, with more intricate and more bombastic songs that nicely explore the band’s rich sound and dramatic take on the genre.

    Since the opening piece “Cunning Lullabies”, Winters Verge delivers intelligently crafted music that is both catchy and powerful: the perfect combination in Power Metal. The keyboards are very dramatic and the overall riffing of this track is very dynamic, making it a truly delightful listening experience. With the very traditional “Paper is Blank”, the band shows that they can make old-school sounding songs with their modern and fresh edge. The vocals of George Charalambous are just outstanding and make this song even more magical.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Lonewolf – Army of the Damned (2012)

    cover

    Hailing from France, today we have the Heavy/Power Metal outfit named Lonewolf and their surprisingly very engaging release “Army of the Damned”. While not having anything original about their sound, Lonewolf does an excellent job in crafting 11 super-catchy headbanging inducing tracks that will stick to your head for days to come.

    Opening with the track titled “Lonewolf”, the band delivers commanding guitar riffs and solos, powerful keyboards in a very traditional sounding track that is super catchy in nature. The vocals are your typical late 90’s raspy Heavy Metal style, but they actually feel very well fitted for the more modern and richer sound of the band. Things continue to get even catchier with the excellent “Crawling to Hell”, a track that has a slight Manowar vibe. The chorus section is pretty solid, allowing this track to have all the makings of a true Metal anthem.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Drakkar – When Lightning Strikes (2012)

    cover

    Delivering their first release in 10 years, today we have Drakkar and their latest release “When Lightning Strikes”. This Power Metal outfit from Italy apparently was one of the biggest band’s in the genre back in the 90’s and they now return with a very traditional sound… for the 90’s indeed. Powering through 15 tracks, this release is as vanilla as you can get with a very few decent songs.

    In a time when everybody and their mom plays Power Metal, Drakkar does not offer much in terms of originality and even their well-executed songs sound very cliché and dull after a while. We have the dramatic fantasy inspired keyboard intro with “Hyperspace – The Arrival”, a very predictable track that just points out what is to come: predictable and very ‘normal’ music.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Oceans of Night – Domain (2011)

    cover

    Keeping up with the Progressive Metal/Rock releases we received recently, today we have Oceans of Night’s second full-length release titled “Domain”. This duo from the USA deliver and action-packed 63 minutes of pure Progressive/Power Metal excellence divided in 10 tracks. Featuring multi-instrumentalist Scott Mosher and vocalist Scott Oliva, this album delivers a hefty dosage of crunchy guitars and very well crafted atmospheric elements that sets them apart from the rest.

     The opening track “Domain” clocks in at a massive 17 minutes, signaling the beginning of a very rich and diverse journey through the music of Oceans of Night. In this track the crunchy guitars are a notable difference from your traditional prog music, and the atmospheric keyboards add a futuristic tone to the overall track. Oliva’s vocals are excellent, filled with emotion and nicely bringing the lyrics to life. The drumming is very well structured, and while neither of the band members play the drums, they brought in a session drummer to have that natural sound.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Axel Rudi Pell – Circle of the Oath (2012)

    cover

    With a very long and extremely good discography under his belt, Axel Rudi Pell returns this 2012 with their latest masterpiece “Circle of the Oath”. In this release, Axel and the band rip through 10 tracks of very traditional and effective Heavy/Power Metal without ridiculous amounts of flair, but with a very well defined core and a timeless sound.

    Immediately after the intro, Axel’s guitar playing power is immediately present on “Ghost in the Black”. As one of the fastest tracks of this release, this song is filled with catchy guitar work, powerful keyboards and very solid vocals courtesy of Johnny Gioeli. The traditional Heavy Metal atmosphere is immediately present with the catchy choruses of “Run with the Wind” and “Before I Die”, a staple that Axel Rudi Pell has had over their whole career.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Iron Savior – The Landing (2012)

    cover

    Returning from a four year absence, today we have Iron Savior and their outstanding release “The Landing”. In this release the band makes a triumphant return with 11 tracks of pure Power Metal that will have you chanting with every chorus section and headbanging to the catchy guitars. It is highly evident that only bands like Iron Savior know exactly what to do (and how to do it) in order to deliver a timeless sound that everybody will enjoy from beginning to end.

    After the epic momentum builder “Descending”, the band fully explodes into Power Metal mode with “The Savior”. In this song the guitars are super catchy and powerful, but the timeless vocals of Piet Sielck take the spotlight away. The vocal melodies are very well crafted thanks to great lead and backing vocals, a staple of the genre, and something that Iron Savior excels at. While sounding like a million bucks, this song (and the whole release) is very down to basics in the sense of instrumentation but by no means sounds limited.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Iron Fire – Voyage of the Damned (2012)

    cover

    Led by the multi-faceted vocals Martin Steene, Iron Fire delivers the latest mash-up album with “Voyage of the Damned”. Featuring a plethora of vocal styles and ridiculous amounts of layering and studio magic, this release actually sounds very dynamic and highly efficient. The band’s Power Metal trademark is clearly evident but it is all the ‘extra stuff’ going on that makes them truly unique and different.

    The real album opener “Enter Oblivion OJ-666” features over the top keyboard arrangements graciously overdone by extremely over the top vocals. Martin goes back and forth between styles never sounding dull, and in a weird way we actually liked it a lot. The somewhat more conventional “Taken” showcases the ‘serious’ side of the band and delivers a very powerful and well crafted track.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Evergrey – A Decade and a Half (2011)

    cover

    Ever since the release of their debut album “The Dark Discovery” back in 1998, Evergrey has been one of the best bands in their genre and with their newest incursion “Glorious Collision” they have widen the gap between them and any other band. With “A Decade and a Half”, the band presents a double-CD release filled with most of their greatest songs and a few live versions that keep things interesting.

    As one of our friends pointed out, if you really wanted a ‘greatest hits’ release of the band, it should have been 8 CD’s long and feature every single album they have released in their years of existence. However, we can’t really have that, but this double-CD has enough to please most of the fans of the band. Kicking off with “The Masterplan”, the band delivers their characteristic guitar work and excellent vocals of Tom Englund. As the future has shown (in “Glorious Collision”) the band’s sound centers around Englund’s efforts and everybody else can be easily replaced.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Sonata Arctica – Live in Finland (2011)

    cover

    Rounding up the year, we are treated with a great live album of one of our favorite bands: Sonata Arctica. In “Live in Finland”, the band delivers a massive package for fans with 2 DVD’s featuring live performances in Finland (of course!!) and two bonus CD’s featuring select tracks from these performances (which is what we are reviewing).

    In the first CD, we have a total of 14 tracks that range from some of the band’s latest tracks from the album “The Days of Grays” to some of their biggest hits like “Paid in Full”. Through this album we get to listen to Tony’s excellent voice shine in the live setting and the band showing their skills when playing each intricate song. Being a live CD, the only drawback is that the crowd interaction is in Suomi, but this can add and authentic feeling for some people.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries