When I first heard the sample clips from "34613" it caught my attention but I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it. It sounded like progressive power metal similar to Crimson Glory, Queensrÿche and Fates Warning but it didn’t quite grab me. Still because I like that kind of stuff I decided to give it a chance. After all clips from a song can be misleading when taken out of context. Sadly after listening to the album I can say this is some powerless power metal.
Now being that I really love power metal I'm a lot more lenient on it then other genres. Basically if it sounds like the band is passionate about what they are doing and the songs have lots of energy its going to get a decent review from me. The majority of "34613" sounds forced and generic. Everything on the album has been done by many other bands only significantly better. It seems to me the problem it the central force writing the music for Tomorrow's Outlook is the bands manager and the bass player with the rest of the band being filled in by guest musicians and vocalists. So part of the problem is probably due to the inexperience of the composers and the other part may be due to the fact that the gust musicians don’t feel connected to the project. Most of the vocalists sound board and uninterested in what they are doing, with the exception of Mike Gorham who really shines through on the albums one redeeming song "The Ethereal Dream". It’s also worth noting that Michael Kiske (You know, the guy that sang on those legendary Helloween albums.) also sings this song as "The Ethereal Dream (Reprise)" for the albums closing track. Kiske's although good, still sounds weak and lacks emotion in comparison to Gorham's.
All together unless you’re a close friend of someone in the band, you’re really not missing anything if you don't hear this album. My advice to Trond Nicolaisen and Andreas Stenseth would be if they plan on continuing Tomorrow's Outlook then try and work on some original ideas, find some more members who are interested and excited about the project and hire Mike Gorham as a full time vocalist. On the other hand my advice to Mike Gorham would be to find a better band; your talent is beyond Tomorrow's Outlook.
(I give "34613" a 2 out of 5)
Friday, August 17, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Crimson Shadows - "Glory On The Battlefield" (2012) Album Review
Crimson Shadows "Glory On The Battlefield" is an interesting album in respect that it has an unusual blend of melodic death and power metal. The best way I can describe their sound is Children Of Bodom meets DragonForce. The band definitely has talent and they play their songs with an intense passion, however they fall short do to the lack of originality. Each of the songs tends to lean towards one style and in the end it just comes off as a hodgepodge album catering to too broad of an audience.
The song that had initially got me to buy the album was "Beyond The Mountain Wasteland"(It shouldn't come as any surprise that this is the song that sounds most like DragonForce.) The song is actually very reminiscent of DragonForce's predecessor Demoniac and their album "The Fire And The Wind". I imagine its what DragonForce could have sounded like had they stuck with the harsh vocals. If the rest of the album had sounded like this it would have sat better with me given my preference to speed/power metal. This was actually the kind of thing I was looking for when first got into metal back in 2006.(DragonForce's "Inhuman Rampage" was the first album I had ever bought.) But alas "Beyond The Mountain Wasteland" is the only song on the album that really captures the fun silly kind of "Epic" power metal DragonForce plays. "Kingdom Of Ale" is a close second but it just didn't grab me.
Most of the album still has the bits that sound like DragonForce, but is structured more like the kind of galloping power metal similar to 3 Inches Of Blood mixed with melodic death metal. The main vocal style is the typical harsh vocals herd in most melodic death metal and some black/death metal bands and at parts more of a weak sounding death growl bordering on pig squeal. There are clean vocals at times mostly used on the chorus lines. In some parts it starts to sound a lot like metalcore which is very off-putting to me. Where it really gets to me though is the slow chugging brutal death metal like breakdown in "Quest For The Sword", I really hate that stuff and throwing it in just completely ruins the song for me. It just comes off as the band trying to show how EXTREME!!! they are.
Lyrically the songs are all related to an overall theme of a Lord Of The Rings style fantasy war. All the songs are vary basic and don't really have a lot of depth to them. It all revolves around drinking, fighting, brotherhood, and longing for home all dealt with in a very unpoetical manner. It will appeal to teenagers looking for some metal about war or good background noise for playing video games, but it lacks substance to hold appeal to an older audience.
Overall the album wasn't terrible but really not my taste. The band is still fairly new and still might be trying to find their sound so I would keep an eye on them. They may just turn into one of those melodic death metal bands that eventually regresses into a very mainstream sounding metalcore/deathcore band but you never know, we just have to wait and see.
(I give "Glory On The Battlefield" a 2.5 out of 5.)
The song that had initially got me to buy the album was "Beyond The Mountain Wasteland"(It shouldn't come as any surprise that this is the song that sounds most like DragonForce.) The song is actually very reminiscent of DragonForce's predecessor Demoniac and their album "The Fire And The Wind". I imagine its what DragonForce could have sounded like had they stuck with the harsh vocals. If the rest of the album had sounded like this it would have sat better with me given my preference to speed/power metal. This was actually the kind of thing I was looking for when first got into metal back in 2006.(DragonForce's "Inhuman Rampage" was the first album I had ever bought.) But alas "Beyond The Mountain Wasteland" is the only song on the album that really captures the fun silly kind of "Epic" power metal DragonForce plays. "Kingdom Of Ale" is a close second but it just didn't grab me.
Most of the album still has the bits that sound like DragonForce, but is structured more like the kind of galloping power metal similar to 3 Inches Of Blood mixed with melodic death metal. The main vocal style is the typical harsh vocals herd in most melodic death metal and some black/death metal bands and at parts more of a weak sounding death growl bordering on pig squeal. There are clean vocals at times mostly used on the chorus lines. In some parts it starts to sound a lot like metalcore which is very off-putting to me. Where it really gets to me though is the slow chugging brutal death metal like breakdown in "Quest For The Sword", I really hate that stuff and throwing it in just completely ruins the song for me. It just comes off as the band trying to show how EXTREME!!! they are.
Lyrically the songs are all related to an overall theme of a Lord Of The Rings style fantasy war. All the songs are vary basic and don't really have a lot of depth to them. It all revolves around drinking, fighting, brotherhood, and longing for home all dealt with in a very unpoetical manner. It will appeal to teenagers looking for some metal about war or good background noise for playing video games, but it lacks substance to hold appeal to an older audience.
Overall the album wasn't terrible but really not my taste. The band is still fairly new and still might be trying to find their sound so I would keep an eye on them. They may just turn into one of those melodic death metal bands that eventually regresses into a very mainstream sounding metalcore/deathcore band but you never know, we just have to wait and see.
(I give "Glory On The Battlefield" a 2.5 out of 5.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)