Swedish power metal, it's probably the strongest of all the strains of power metal, many of the bands from the Swedish scene are at the pinnacle of the genre and The Storyteller can be put in that group too. The Final Stand is their seventh studio album, released after a 10 year hiatus, but the chapters of The Storyteller go back to the late 90's making them compatriots of the likes of Hammerfall.
The powerhouse vocals of L.G Persson once again take centre stage and he's joined in this iteration of The Storyteller by Blazon Stone man Cederick Forsberg on guitar and Henrik Ohlsson, formerly of Scar Symmetry on drums, his blasts leading the charge on the Helloween-like Its Storytime, while the shredding comes at lightspeed for The Eyes That Cannot See.
This is triumphal power metal with Tower Of Fear, Fields Of Blood And Steel and They Will Feel Our Battlecry calling to the battles of history and fantasy, getting the swords in the air as the heavy metal power flows through you. It's not all glistening muscles and calls to arms though as Sweet Lullaby brings fragility.
As we reach the title track you realise that this is a triumphant return after 10 years. If Sabaton, played Hammerfall and were fronted by Udo then you could sum up the parts of The Storyteller, however it's easier to say that The Storyteller are an brilliant Swedish power metal band. 8/10
Trick Or Treat – Ghosted (Scarlet Records) [Simon Black]
Trick Or Treat have crossed the platter of Blackness a number of times over the last few years. This sort of Power Metal has a hard time here in the UK, for reasons I have never managed to wrap my head around.
On the continent however, the cookie cutter power metal acts proliferate, to the point where they struggle to sound anything other than cliched and repetitive (you know samey songs, endlessly overwrought concept arcs that no one really can unpick and a revolving door of musicians who have been recycling this shit for years in different guises).
From the numbers Trick Or Treat always appear on the surface like they are going to fall into this trap, but they don’t in a thoroughly refreshing way. This is odd, because for a band that started as a Helloween covers outfit (before they came back as their own tribute act) this would be an easy temptation…
In terms of overall sound, Gamma Ray and Helloween are clearly still the main root influence, but with the considerable vocal talents of former Rhapsody lungsman Alessandro Conti in play means that the Italian market used to that more operatic vocal approach are on board as well as the Germanic ones. Lyrically this is very tongue in cheek, with songs loosely based on classic 80’s and 90’s horror flicks or, err video games, but Conti could sing the menu from McDonalds and make it sound fantastic.
The eleven tracks here may all be coming from a familiar stylistic place, but they categorically don’t do so in the tired repetitive way that far too many acts in this genre churn out endlessly. They each stand alone as strong, well-crafted pieces of music, run the gamut in terms of pace and tone, yet retain the house spooky-Power Metal sound that Trick or Treat have perfected.
This means they remain distinct and unique, which is why once again I have to bow in gratitude for this band absolutely not taking itself seriously like far too many of their peers do. Most importantly being fun, but damned fine writers and musicians means that against my expectations I am once again enjoying this bands newest album enormously. 8/10
Greengoat - Aloft (Argonauta Records) [Rich Piva]
Spain’s Greengoat is back with album number two, Aloft, the follow up to their debut A.I., which had its moments but was a bit of an uneven offering. Now signed to Argonauta Records, Aloft is seven tracks that are all over the map and, according to the promo materials, is “inspired by the ground-breaking studies of Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack on alien abductions.” Cool. But does it rock? Let’s see.
All of the tracks on Aloft have a person’s name, so I assume they are based on the individual experiences of these peeps being abducted, which is a pretty cool concept if you can pull it off. The opener, Zohar, is a bit of a throw away on an album that is so short at 33 minutes, as it is really just some guitar strumming. Not sure how this sets up an album based on alien abductions but I am keeping an open mind.
Betty is where things get interesting, with some cool guitar sounds and some chunkiness. It’s a weird track, with some strange vocal patters, almost a chant, but it kind of works, and at the very least sounds like nothing else I have heard recently. Jim has some whispery vocals across sparse and spacy instrumentation and has a very cool vibe. Travis has a similar vibe, and some weird vocals, but maybe weird is what the guys were going for here.
Ariel has a 90s vibe to it (am I hearing Radiohead or am I nuts?), and there is something inherently lo-fi about what I am hearing on this track and on all of Aloft. Maybe not lo-fi per se but more like minimalist, in a very 90s sort of way.
The most straight-ahead stoner rock song on Aloft is Barney, that, even with that description, still has all of the other elements I have spelled out earlier. Charles is a cool wall of guitar sound and a great riff, and is probably my favourite song on Aloft, but it still confuses me on what I am really hearing on this and all of these seven songs.
I think I need more time with Aloft. I am not sure I am truly appreciating all that there is on this record. For example, in the promo notes it talks about how “…Aloft takes listeners on a deep sonic journey, blending elements of flamenco, classical music, progressive metal, and stoner doom.” I honestly don’t hear any of that complexity. I hear some cool, atmospheric, minimalist, 90s inspired stoner rock.
The promo doesn’t match what I am hearing, but maybe I just need to dig in more to Aloft and/or maybe Greengoat has gone over my very simple head. Whatever is the case, give Aloft a spin to see what I am missing. 7/10
Caliban - Back From Hell (Century Media Records) [GC]
Having been into metalcore for most of my life, I find it almost impossible to believe that I have never once heard a single second of music by Caliban, I was searching for a song that I was sure was theirs and it turned out if was a Carnifex track, anyway from what I can see Back From Hell might be their FOURTEENTH album since 1997 which is either impressive or pointless, I can’t decide? Guess it’s time to see if I have been missing anything for the past 28 years.
Operatic intro Resurgence does its best to build you up for what’s to come but isn’t really my sort of thing and albums with 13 tracks do not need extra time added, so Guilt Trip starts us off with guest vocals from the matey from Mental Cruelty not really adding much to this paint by numbers metalcore that tries to use the melody of Killswitch Engage and mix it with the brutality of Bleeding Through and just doesn’t really, heard it all before done better many times.
I Was A Happy Kid Once is probably meant to be a heart string tugging title but I just roll my eyes so hard they come out of the back of my skull, the song itself lends heavily from nu-metal and Slipknot and is just boring and mundane but the vocalist does sound like he is feeling some hidden pain and expresses it well in the delivery.
Back From Hell has a bit of a thrashy beginning the piques the interest and that’s about as long as it lasts as once again the actual song itself is just cut and paste metalcore 101 and really will not stick long in the mind, is Insomnia and ironic track title? Who knows, probably not but this song is so annoyingly earnest, and woe is me, packed full of electronic ambience that is meant to be the light to the dark when the guitars come in or something like that probably? I just wish I was asleep and not listening to this! Dear Suffering, is probably the least annoying song so far and offers a bit more in the way of core, applying some hardcore gives it a decent bounce, but the overly electronic sound of everything isn’t really for me.
Alte Seele finally nails it and is an absolute raging beast of a track that combines all the best elements of metalcore to good effect, savage guitars, mixing with massive drums and some melodic choruses that rocket upward and lift everything and it gives you hope that form here on in we are in for more of this but what we get is Overdrive which once again sounds like a 2nd wave nu-metal off cast? It tries to keep the heaviness going but it is just such a miss hit you wonder if the track before was actually real or not.
I hate Infection with an absolute passion, it’s got off kilter time changes that just don’t work, mixed in with more atmospheric nu-metalyness that nobody needs to be hearing in the year 2025 after the last 2 duds Glass Cage once again absolutely rockets out and reminds you what good metalcore can sound like, high emotion mixed with cutting brutality and you just wish that they would do this more often because this is a mile better then most of the other tracks so far!
Solace In Suffer swiftly halts the upturn again and is full of echoed vocals and soft sounds that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Disturbed album probably and I just can’t get my head around the varying styles they are trying, because most of the time they just don’t work, Till Death Do Us Part is a slow and chugging way to end and for the most part it’s a decent track and better than 80% of the rest of the record but also a boring way to end a very average album.
Not really sure what to say about Back From Hell? There were some good bits but they were heavily outweighed by bang average and downright terrible parts that formed a lasting impression as you have more of them to remember, you have to try to be positive sometimes but I am just really struggling with this and all I can say is for a band with this many albums I expected way better than this and feel fully justified in having never listened to them as I certainly won’t be starting now! 4/10
From the numbers Trick Or Treat always appear on the surface like they are going to fall into this trap, but they don’t in a thoroughly refreshing way. This is odd, because for a band that started as a Helloween covers outfit (before they came back as their own tribute act) this would be an easy temptation…
In terms of overall sound, Gamma Ray and Helloween are clearly still the main root influence, but with the considerable vocal talents of former Rhapsody lungsman Alessandro Conti in play means that the Italian market used to that more operatic vocal approach are on board as well as the Germanic ones. Lyrically this is very tongue in cheek, with songs loosely based on classic 80’s and 90’s horror flicks or, err video games, but Conti could sing the menu from McDonalds and make it sound fantastic.
The eleven tracks here may all be coming from a familiar stylistic place, but they categorically don’t do so in the tired repetitive way that far too many acts in this genre churn out endlessly. They each stand alone as strong, well-crafted pieces of music, run the gamut in terms of pace and tone, yet retain the house spooky-Power Metal sound that Trick or Treat have perfected.
This means they remain distinct and unique, which is why once again I have to bow in gratitude for this band absolutely not taking itself seriously like far too many of their peers do. Most importantly being fun, but damned fine writers and musicians means that against my expectations I am once again enjoying this bands newest album enormously. 8/10
Greengoat - Aloft (Argonauta Records) [Rich Piva]
Spain’s Greengoat is back with album number two, Aloft, the follow up to their debut A.I., which had its moments but was a bit of an uneven offering. Now signed to Argonauta Records, Aloft is seven tracks that are all over the map and, according to the promo materials, is “inspired by the ground-breaking studies of Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack on alien abductions.” Cool. But does it rock? Let’s see.
All of the tracks on Aloft have a person’s name, so I assume they are based on the individual experiences of these peeps being abducted, which is a pretty cool concept if you can pull it off. The opener, Zohar, is a bit of a throw away on an album that is so short at 33 minutes, as it is really just some guitar strumming. Not sure how this sets up an album based on alien abductions but I am keeping an open mind.
Betty is where things get interesting, with some cool guitar sounds and some chunkiness. It’s a weird track, with some strange vocal patters, almost a chant, but it kind of works, and at the very least sounds like nothing else I have heard recently. Jim has some whispery vocals across sparse and spacy instrumentation and has a very cool vibe. Travis has a similar vibe, and some weird vocals, but maybe weird is what the guys were going for here.
Ariel has a 90s vibe to it (am I hearing Radiohead or am I nuts?), and there is something inherently lo-fi about what I am hearing on this track and on all of Aloft. Maybe not lo-fi per se but more like minimalist, in a very 90s sort of way.
The most straight-ahead stoner rock song on Aloft is Barney, that, even with that description, still has all of the other elements I have spelled out earlier. Charles is a cool wall of guitar sound and a great riff, and is probably my favourite song on Aloft, but it still confuses me on what I am really hearing on this and all of these seven songs.
I think I need more time with Aloft. I am not sure I am truly appreciating all that there is on this record. For example, in the promo notes it talks about how “…Aloft takes listeners on a deep sonic journey, blending elements of flamenco, classical music, progressive metal, and stoner doom.” I honestly don’t hear any of that complexity. I hear some cool, atmospheric, minimalist, 90s inspired stoner rock.
The promo doesn’t match what I am hearing, but maybe I just need to dig in more to Aloft and/or maybe Greengoat has gone over my very simple head. Whatever is the case, give Aloft a spin to see what I am missing. 7/10
Caliban - Back From Hell (Century Media Records) [GC]
Having been into metalcore for most of my life, I find it almost impossible to believe that I have never once heard a single second of music by Caliban, I was searching for a song that I was sure was theirs and it turned out if was a Carnifex track, anyway from what I can see Back From Hell might be their FOURTEENTH album since 1997 which is either impressive or pointless, I can’t decide? Guess it’s time to see if I have been missing anything for the past 28 years.
Operatic intro Resurgence does its best to build you up for what’s to come but isn’t really my sort of thing and albums with 13 tracks do not need extra time added, so Guilt Trip starts us off with guest vocals from the matey from Mental Cruelty not really adding much to this paint by numbers metalcore that tries to use the melody of Killswitch Engage and mix it with the brutality of Bleeding Through and just doesn’t really, heard it all before done better many times.
I Was A Happy Kid Once is probably meant to be a heart string tugging title but I just roll my eyes so hard they come out of the back of my skull, the song itself lends heavily from nu-metal and Slipknot and is just boring and mundane but the vocalist does sound like he is feeling some hidden pain and expresses it well in the delivery.
Back From Hell has a bit of a thrashy beginning the piques the interest and that’s about as long as it lasts as once again the actual song itself is just cut and paste metalcore 101 and really will not stick long in the mind, is Insomnia and ironic track title? Who knows, probably not but this song is so annoyingly earnest, and woe is me, packed full of electronic ambience that is meant to be the light to the dark when the guitars come in or something like that probably? I just wish I was asleep and not listening to this! Dear Suffering, is probably the least annoying song so far and offers a bit more in the way of core, applying some hardcore gives it a decent bounce, but the overly electronic sound of everything isn’t really for me.
Alte Seele finally nails it and is an absolute raging beast of a track that combines all the best elements of metalcore to good effect, savage guitars, mixing with massive drums and some melodic choruses that rocket upward and lift everything and it gives you hope that form here on in we are in for more of this but what we get is Overdrive which once again sounds like a 2nd wave nu-metal off cast? It tries to keep the heaviness going but it is just such a miss hit you wonder if the track before was actually real or not.
I hate Infection with an absolute passion, it’s got off kilter time changes that just don’t work, mixed in with more atmospheric nu-metalyness that nobody needs to be hearing in the year 2025 after the last 2 duds Glass Cage once again absolutely rockets out and reminds you what good metalcore can sound like, high emotion mixed with cutting brutality and you just wish that they would do this more often because this is a mile better then most of the other tracks so far!
Solace In Suffer swiftly halts the upturn again and is full of echoed vocals and soft sounds that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Disturbed album probably and I just can’t get my head around the varying styles they are trying, because most of the time they just don’t work, Till Death Do Us Part is a slow and chugging way to end and for the most part it’s a decent track and better than 80% of the rest of the record but also a boring way to end a very average album.
Not really sure what to say about Back From Hell? There were some good bits but they were heavily outweighed by bang average and downright terrible parts that formed a lasting impression as you have more of them to remember, you have to try to be positive sometimes but I am just really struggling with this and all I can say is for a band with this many albums I expected way better than this and feel fully justified in having never listened to them as I certainly won’t be starting now! 4/10
No comments:
Post a Comment