SEVEN KINGDOMS: THE FIRE IS MINE REVIEW

  Every so often an album will come along, completely out of the blue, and remind me of why I love metal as much as I do. This third record by the Floridian Power Metallers is one such album. I discovered this on pandora radio ( my Kamelot station I believe it was) and I felt a shiver run down my spine.   

  What makes this album so different is the vocal work of Sabrina Valentine. Her voice is grandiose and melodic without delving into the over saturated opera stylings of most of her female peers. The melodies she creates are both memorable and unique as she breathes life into the songs. However some notes she hits do occasionally get obnoxious. This is especially apparent on the chorus of "Symphony Of Stars". Her voice really shows what it can do on the ballad "Kardia". It slows the record down enough for a quick break and some emotional depth. 

  The lyrics here are definitely game of thrones worship with the first song (after the intro) being about Bran Stark. A moment here that made me all to excited was the title track, which is about Khaleesi. It feels as if she is singing it herself to her deceased husband (read/watch the damn series). They even go so far as to have a spoken segment based on the series which is the albums biggest misstep as it adds a good amount of pm cheese to the record. 

  Instrumentally, the songs rarely distinguish themselves from one another but there is a thrash/power vibe akin to Iced Earth to add some much needed heaviness to it. They are all very good at the or instruments and surprisingly enough, all get time to demonstrate their abilities. 

  Honestly, I'd recommend this to any metal head to at least check out but definitely to any fan of PM. Hell, for the Game Of Thrones fan in us all its worth a listen or two...or twelve. It's been far to long since a record has hit me like this.  

  Rating: 9 out of 10

  Notable Tracks:

    "After The Fall"

    "The Fire Is Mine"

    "In The Twisted Twilight"

KAMELOT: SILVERTHORN REVIEW

  "Silverthorn" is the tenth album and first to feature (Seventh Wonder frontman) Tommy Karevik. 

   The album opens with "Sacrimony" which features (Arch Enemy vocalist) Alyssa White-Gluz playing one of the lead roles. Following that is "Ashes To Ashes" and " Torn" which continue the high paced feel of it. The record slows down with "Song For Jolee" which showcases the emotional qualities of Karevik's voice. Only to pick back up for the rest of the album. The last half is along the same lines with each track having memorable choruses and verses alike. The only track that is forgettable is the epic close "Prodigal Son". 

  Musically, the record follows the same lines as the past three with its keyboard driven riffs. The major change here is the guitars are both more prominent and heavier than there past recordings. 

  Vocally is where this record really shines. Tommy Karevik (once again, fangirl moment) has his own distinctive qualities while maintaining the style by previous singer Roy Khan. Truth be told, one who doesn't know the band's history would assume that Roy is still with the band. Tommy's voice is very polished and really holds the gothic feel akin to "The Black Halo". The melodies he creates remain in your head for days keeping each song unique and memorable. 

  The lyrics here are well written and very poetic. To me lyrics are a huge factor of making a band go from good to great and in this aspect, they are great. The story is about a rich family who loses their only daughter In an accident. It portrays the bereavement, guilt, and the lies told by Jolee's family. The problem is the story feels anti climatic especially for a band of this caliber. The saving grace is each song stands on it's own rather than needing to be listened to at one listen unlike most other concept albums. 

  My personal opinion is this is Kamelot's best record and certainly their first great record since the aforementioned "The Black Halo". Anyone who has enjoyed their previous records must listen to this one. It is also a great starting point for a new fan. After buying both the (deluxe edition of the) CD and the (double disc, blue) vinyl, I'd highly recommend the latter. 

  Rating: 9 out of 10

  Notable Tracks:

    "Ashes To Ashes"

    "Song For Jolee"

    "Falling Like The Fahrenheit"

AVANTASIA: THE SCARECROW REVIEW

  The Scarecrow is the third album and first of the wicked trilogy by Tobias Sammet's Avantasia project. 

  As with the previous and current records, this album has a bunch of guest musicians playing different parts in typical metal opera styling. The story is about a man who feels alone and different from the world. While trying to find happiness he experiences heartbreak and turns to the devilish side of life. While these songs tell a whole story, they are relatable on a track by track basis which is part of what makes this album so great. 

  The album opens up with "Twisted Mind" with Roy Khan (Kamelot) playing a therapist talking to the scarecrow. Considering Kamelot is my favorite band it's safe to say I fangirled a little bit here. It's too bad that Roy was only used on the one track. Following that is the epic title track. Other great moments are the ballad "What Kind Of Love" featuring the incredibly talented Amanda Sommerville, the poppier "Carry Me Over" and "Shelter From The Rain" to the hard rocking numbers "Another Angel Down" and "I Don't Believe In Your Love" (which sounds closer to a Whitesnake song than power metal.)  Closing the album is the single "Lost In Space". The instruments here add to the atmosphere and winds the album down finish on a high note

  The stand out moments here are the guest vocalists. That includes people like Jørn Lande and Michael Kiske. Alice Cooper guests on "The Toy Master" which is great with Alice doing a top notch performance, but seems to throw the story off a bit. It's too bad both he and Roy weren't used more than one track each on this entire trilogy. While no song here is bad, the only track that is forgettable is "Cry A Little" but with only one "ok" song, that's still a pretty good album. 

  The lyrics here convey the emotion perfectly aiding to Tobias Sammet's desire to feel the story rather than understand it. Sadly, this is the best Edguy album without being Edguy in recent years. 

  Fans of any of the singers or power metal in general must hear this record if you haven't already. The guests here all sound at their peak with incredible vocal delivery and the songs are catchy and memorable. 

  Rating: 9 out of 10

  Notable Tracks: 

    "Carry Me Over"

    "What Kind Of Love"

    "I Don't Believe In Your Love"

ALESTORM: SUNSET ON THE GOLDEN AGE REVIEW

  Ahoy! The pirates have come back to deliver more metal to plunder to. The fourth album by these guys is like the ocean. Sometimes it's smooth sailing other times it's a typhoon. 

  The silliness from their last album comes through on this one very clearly with most songs being humorous. Some of them, it works for and some it doesn't. However, as they predicted on album three, there are moments where it seems they're scraping the barrel for creative ideas. 

  The music is still very them with the strong key based riffs and sea shanty melodies. The vocal work here gets experimental though (for them) by adding death growls and rapping. Yep, they rap on a song ( I'll get to that in a minute) 

  As aforementioned, some of the songs are a little bit bland and feel like they're recycling ideas they've already used. Sadly, that makes this album drag on a little bit. That said though, there are some good songs on here that'll stand up to the rest of their catalogue. Plus, this is still a fun album which it needs to be for pirate metal. 

  One of the best songs on here is "Hangover". It's a cover of Taio Cruz feat. Flo Rida. Yeah, it's odd to think ain't it?This is the track with the rapping and it works in a weird way.

 

  As for the bonus tracks, there's five of their old songs recorded acoustically. They're interestingly done but I feel like they would've been better suited as a stand alone EP. The last bonus track is called "Questing Upon The Poop Deck". It's a moment where the humor really shines and should've been on the album itself instead of the unbearable "Wooden Leg". Although, it surprises the hell out of me that it took em four albums to make a poop deck joke. 

  The sun may have set on their golden age,but it is still fun and if you like the band is definitely worth the listen. Just don't expect any boundaries pushed.  

  Rating: 6 out of 10

  Notable Tracks: 

    "Quest For Ships"

    "Hangover"

    "Questing Upon The Poop Deck"

HEATHEN FORAY: FOREST - EP REVIEW

  The first release and my first foray into these Austrian folkers, the Forest EP comes in at 21 minutes and four tracks. 

  As a whole these guys are considered folk but, there's a lot more to them. The vocals are along the lines of melodeath while the instruments and lyrics have more of a power metal feel. Unlike most of their contemporaries, they don't use antique instruments or a sense of atmosphere in their sound. 

  The guitar lines here are traditonal power metal riffs that would fit right in on a Hammerfall record. This not only adds the melody but blends perfectly with the fantasy tinged lyrics. This gives the sense of killing dragons or sieging a castle.

  The vocal work of Robert Scrholl is your

standard melodeath along the lines of Dark Tranquility. While he may be unrefined, you can understand every lyric which makes this album a whole lot better. The problem is the group chanting on "The Wizard's Life" but it is easily dismissed despite sounding like a demo tape. 

  If you're looking for a new band to listen to or an addition to you Skyrim playlist look no farther. This record doesn't break new ground on any level but damn, it's enjoyable. For fans of folk metal or Children Of Bodom, your collection isn't complete without this. 

  Rating: 4 out of 5

  Notable Track

    "Dragon's Eyes"

SABATON: HEROES REVIEW

  

  Power metal is back on the front lines! A band that has had a consistent release of quality records have now released their seventh album. The notable difference here is that the lyrics focus on individual soldiers rather than the battle themselves.

  On the musical side of this album, this is the most diverse record they've released thus far. There are small traces of thrash and folk metal incorporated and there's even a ballad on here. While the ballad ("The Ballad Of The Bull") May be pushing the limits of (singer) Joakim Brodén's voice, it's a nice change of pace with great lyrics. 

  On the note of lyrics, as always the songs do their best to accurately portray the history and work incredibly well on making it understandable without knowing war history. The songs are memorable with more hooks thrown in than a boxing match. Plus there's a song about an American soldier ("To Hell And Back") so I have to feel a little proud. 

  The signature sound of Joakim is still there in a full frontal assault. At most parts, you can understand him. If you can I recommend you get all of the bonus tracks. With "7734" and "Man Of War" ( a tribute to Manowar, yep) available on all special editions. The last 3 bonus tracks are covers of Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls", a Raubtier (?) cover "En Hjältes Väg, and a cover of Battle Beast's "Out Of Control".  Yes, they covered Battle Beast (mentally think "Fuck Yeah!"). 

  This is one of their best albums yet and if you like war history and/or power metal this is a must own. Between the sound and the interesting lyrics, I've probably spun this album 11 or 12 times since it's release a few months back. 

  Rating: 8 out of 10

  Notable Tracks:

    "Inmate 4859"

    "Soldier Of Three Armies"

    "Hearts Of Iron"

EDGUY: SPACE POLICE-DEFENDERS OF THE CROWN REVIEW

  Coming in at ten tracks, the eigth album by power metal jokesters follows their current flow of recent releases. Most of the songs here are lighthearted with a touch of 80's rock. The humor and silliness does wear on you a bit but the sound keeps you pushing through with, well, sabre and torch. 

  Most of the songs here have the strong guitar leads one would come to expect and most of the riffs are memorable. With fast tempo songs mixing in slow parts when needed the musical writing is spot on.  

  As previously mentioned, the songs do take a more fun and silly side most of the album which works in places ("Love Tyger") and become tiresome and almost dumb enough to piss you off ("Do Me Like A Caveman"). However, one thing this album does is have very catchy, anthemic chorus'. Especially on the track "Space Police", I haven't a heard a chorus that good in PM in a long while. What stops that song from being perfect is the part where (singer) Tobias Sammet tries making space noises. That's one of those moments where the dorky side of them is irritating. The cover of "Rock Me Amadeus" is both a good rendition and a welcome edition to this album. 

  Vocally, Tobias sounds great with his mix of Bruce Dickinson-esque power vocals and the more Rock N' Roll rasp. 

The two bonus tracks are obviously the right choice as bonus tracks. "England" is a fun, albeit cheesy, song about how England is better because they have Iron Maiden. While the other one, "Aychim In Hysteria" is about the bands roadie put to a similar musical sound of Def Leppard's prime. 

 

  While I wouldn't recommend this to someone who's not a fan of power metal, but if you are this is a good record to check out. It may not hold up to Edguy's earlier work, or Tobias' Avantasia project for that matter, it's a fun and simple record. If you're in the mood for silly fun but burnt out your Manowar collection, go get this. 

  Rating: 6 out of 10

  Notable Tracks:

    "Space Police"

    "Love Tyger"

    " Shadow Eaters"

 

SONATA ARCTICA: PARIAH'S CHILD REVIEW

  The eighth album by power metal giants Sonata Arctica looks pretty good right. It's got amazing cover art, the old logo, oh and look at that, a wolf is back. I was skeptical after their previous album (Stones Grow Her Name) considering it sucked. Once I put the album on, the first track (Wolves Die Young) made me think "awesome they're back to their old sound". However after the album continues you start to realize it's not quite that. 

  There's a few of there joke songs on here which get annoying real quick. There's a song about drifting cars which might be the most random topic for power metal. Plus the definition of blood is spoken because people apparently don't know what blood is. Seriously guys. The lyrics are cheesy even for PM standards and some of the odd vocal effects Tony Kakko does are incredibly weird to put it mildly. However there are moments where the vocals are some of the best I've heard from these guys too. For better or worse, these melodies will be stuck in your head. Seriously, I woke up with "Cloud Factory" stuck in mine. The ballad "Dad, What Did You Do In The War" is supposed to be emotional but the band doesn't put much conviction into the portrayal. And while "Love" is incredibly cheesy, it's a nice change of pace to hear a slow, simple love song like that in metal. 

 The instrumental sections here are par for the course PM. They're good enough to get by but not super memorable. What stands out on this album is the last track "Larger Than Life". The story about an actor  who spends his life trying to get to the top only to realize he focused only on his work and not his personal life seems like it might be a confession from the band. Either way it's a deep song with lots of orchestral parts and good but  odd tempo changes. 

  While this album isn't one you're gonna go back to specific tracks for the most part, it's enjoyable when played all the way through. Does it hold up against "Silence" or "Ecliptica"? NO! Is it better than "Stones Grow Her Name"? Yeah. 

  Rating: 6 out of 10

  Notable Tracks: 

    "Wolves Die Young"

    "Cloud Factory"

    "Larger Than Life"

SEVENTH WONDER: THE GREAT ESCAPE REVIEW

First let me start this off by mentioning Tommy Karevik is one of my favorite singers and yes I totally fangirled here (this will be important on later reviews I do). OK background time. The Great Escape is the fourth album by this Swedish power/prog band. The album's thirty minute title track is based off of the Swedish poem "the Aniara". The opener (Wizeman) is connected as well like a sort of prequel.

  You get all the proggy goodness that you'd expect from theses guys. Oddly enough the length of these songs isn't really noticeable though. They maintain enough variety to hold your interest all the way through. Each instrument is given plenty of time to shine and the production is good enough to make each one distinguishable.  The only minor problem on the instrumental side of things is there are moments they seem to be recycling themselves, especially on solos an the bass parts. Each song has a mix between mid to slow-tempo sections which gives a bit of diversity to them.

  Lyrically this is an odd one. There are moments where the lyrics are beautiful and poetic then there are times where they get to be cheesier than a dairy farm. Despite that, they are still very convincing and don't seem to get in the way of the enjoyment factor.

  And now my favorite part. VOCALS! Sorry, fangirl moment. Tommy Kareviks voice mostly feels like your expected prog singer however he occasionally delves into an almost Rock N' Roll rasp. There's a very dramatic feel to him when the time calls for it which makes you feel the emotion he's trying to sell. This is highly apparent on tracks like "Wizeman" and "Long Way Home''. The melodies he conjures on this record make each song incredibly catchy and memorable.

  The lengthy epic title track may not be the most accessible but is super rewarding for it's portrayal of the "Aniara" (given I've never read it but the lyrics makes it understandable as a story). Along with Karevik's wife or sister(?) Jenny guesting on it who is equally as talented. As for the rest of the songs go each is memorable and distinct in it's own right. The only song that is less than (seventh) wonderful is "Move On Through" which isn't a bad song in any way but just doesn't keep up with the rest of the record. This album stays in pretty constant rotation in my listening choices and for good reason.  This album isn't really heavy in anyway so that might deter a lot of metal fans but any progressive fan really should have this one in their collection.

RATING: 9 OUT OF 10
NOTABLE TRACKS
  "Wizeman"
  "The Angelmaker"
  "Long Way Home"