For @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#Labyrinth: Welcome Twilight

https://song.link/z5pgw3jfhk9tx

#ProgressivePowerMetal

FFO #Domine #SecretSphere #VisionDivine

Krilloan – Return of the Heralds Review

By Steel Druhm

As I began my listening sessions with Sweden’s Krilloan and their second album Return of the Heralds, I reflected on how rarely I review power metal.1 That’s partly because we don’t get much of it in the promo sump these days apart from grizzled olde dawgs like Hammerfall and Powerwolf. It seems to be a genre in decline with fewer bands stepping forward to hoist the yellow banner of Cheese Whizardy. That’s a shame too, because as much as we mock power metal for its frilly, sugary excesses, it can be among the most embiggening metal styles when executed properly. Now comes Krilloan with badass Castlevania-esque cover art and a style blending classic Euro-power with traditional and trve/epic elements. At times you’ll hear traces of the early Euro-power stalwarts, late wavers like Lost Horizon, and even grandiose operators like Blind Guardian. Ambitions may be king-sized, but a lot can go wrong when you reach for the stars. What fate awaits the starry-eyed Krill-Monger?

With a shocking lack of over-the-top intro nonsense, Return of the Heralds leaps directly into the fray with “Atlantean Sword,” which is the most standard-issue Euro-power tracks on offer here. It smacks of the bombast of Italian cheddar warriors Domine and also bears a strong similarity to the early days of Sonata Arctica, in no small part due to Alex VanTrue’s Tony Kakko-adjacent delivery. It’s a lively song full of galloping, sword-swinging energy with a Conan the Barbarian theme, though it suffers from sounding like a million other power metal nuggets. After that, Krilloan start to play with outside influences. “Kings of The Iron Hill” dials up the traditional metal influence for a more muscular sound, and “Blood & Fire (Born on a Battlefield)” goes even further, bringing trve metal aesthetics into play for a rougher, meaner approach that suits the Conan storyline. Heavy riffs drive the attack forward as war chants punctuate the storytelling in a Manocentric way. I especially appreciate how Krilloan borrows from the immortal soundtrack of Conan the Barbarian for maximum glory riding.

As Heralds unspools, Krilloan get heavier and more aggressive and this is when they’re at their best. “Hammer of Wrath” is like Domine mixing DNA with Paragon, making for a more impactful sound and the chorus is righteous. “Avenging Sun” goes even harder, channeling trve acts like Ancient Empire and Ironflame for added machismo. The Blind Guardian worship gets real on the folksy “The Kingkillers Tale” as VanTrue pulls off a scary accurate Hansi Kürsch impression, and late album cut “We Burn” seasons Amorphis-like guitar bits throughout a wild battle anthem full of piss and vinegar. While the writing is a bit uneven, no song is bad or disposable. The performances are impressive and the band wisely keep the songs short and tight with only one reaching the 5-minute mark. This along with a tight 40-minute runtime makes Return of the Heralds an easy spin with some high points.

Talent abounds in Krilloan and I’m especially impressed by Alex VanTrue’s vocals. The man is a chameleon with a big range, channeling any number of notable power metal luminaries. He can hit the high notes but does so sparingly and has a good ear for hooky vocal lines and patterns. He sells the material well and keeps the listener involved. Steve Brockmann and Klas Holmgren are talented guitarists capable of driving a song with solid riffs and soaring when solo time is nigh. Marco Ignacio Toba’s bass is present and involved, and Christoph Brandes powers the music with booming double-base runs and thundering kit work. Krilloan possess the ability needed to rock the power genre and when their writing is at its peak, good things happen.

Return of the Heralds is a good power metal album that sometimes threatens to become more. With more consistent writing and a drift away from the generic elements of the Euro-power sound, Krilloan have real potential. I’ll be watching to see what they do next since good Euro-power is pretty scarce these days. Worth a loud spin with sword held high.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Scarlet
Websites: facebook.com/krilloanofficial | instagram.com/krilloan_official
Releases Worldwide: September 20th, 2024

#2024 #30 #BlindGuardian #Domine #HeavyMetal #Krilloan #LostHorizon #PowerMetal #ReturnOfTheHeralds #Review #Reviews #ScarletRecords #Sep24 #SonataArctica

Scanner – The Cosmic Race Review

By Steel Druhm

It’s an early-year surprise to be graced with a new album by Germanic power/heavy metal semi-legends Scanner. Early adopters of the Euro-power style created by Helloween, Scanner released two seminal albums at the start of their career. 1988s Hypertrace and 1990s Terminal Earth were rough and ready takes on the slick Helloween style and Scanner made their version extra interesting due to their more unhinged, raw edge. After the very good Terminal Earth, however, it took them until 1995 to drop a follow-up and by then much of the metal market had moved on to more extreme sounds or given up metal entirely and gone grunge. Scanner soldiered on until 2002 but I was too busy bathing in bloody death metal and icy blackness to notice. They reformed in 2015 for The Judgment but I was oblivious. Nearly nine years later they’re back with only founding guitarist Axel Julius remaining for seventh album, The Cosmic Race, and now I’m paying attention out of nostalgia and a fortuitous opening in the schedule of Steel. So what does 2024 Scanner offer a modern metalverse? Let’s send a probe into that black hole and find out.

Scanner blows out all the airlocks on opener “The Earth Song” with a sound going back to the earliest days of Helloween mixed with a tougher, Germanic vibe akin to Grave Digger and Iron Savior. Axel Julius goes wild with vintage power leads and metal-tastic solos as the song builds in scope and epicness. The high-energy drive and enthusiastic gallops are very old school but feel refreshing and hard to resist. Efthimios Ioannidis sounds like Kai Hanson at times and delivers his lines with ever-increasing urgency. The song is rough around the edges but also quite slick and I love how it takes me back to the embryonic days of power metal. The Native American chanting on the back half is a nice touch too. “Face the Fight” is a hard-rocking number leveraging gritty stadium rock with hooks aplenty. Ioannidis steals the show with his vocals and the over-the-top YEEEAAHs he drops like so much loose change. This one is dumb but I fookin’ love it and I’ve been walking around all week dropping mammoth YEEEAAHs while pointing at confuzzled strangers around town.

The Cosmic Race has a collection of very endearing throwback cuts that are sure to entertain. “Warriors of the Light” rocks hard and rides cheaply with enough manly bombast to get your iron levels elevated, and “Farewell to the Sun” injects more beef and brawn into the power formula, trending toward the Conan-core of Domine and the chorus feels like it requires a sword in one hand and a large tankard of ale in the other. The album’s high point arrives with the oversized “Space Battalion” with its Edguy-meets-Domine-meets-Primal Fear bathtub of metallic overkill. Here Scanner go for broke with heavier riffs and death metal-adjacent growls and the result is highly addictive and sticky like musical flypaper. I keep replaying it and it’s causing me to grow back hair on my chest. Ioannidis leans in hard here, running all over the cosmos and his exuberance is infectious. This one is an absolute blast. Sadly, there are a few selections that pull the album out of orbit. “Dance of the Dead” isn’t exactly terrible but is skippable. “A New Horizon” is an overwrought power ballad and better, but I don’t love it. Ioannidis’ vocals don’t suit the pace, sounding overblown and off-kilter. Also, the lyrics are really bad. Like English as a fourth language bad. This combined with the lesser fare makes the 47-plus minutes a bit too bouncy and uneven.

The combination of Axel Julius and Efthimios Ioannidis can be a potent one. Julius was there in the early days of Euro-power and the style is in his DNA. He has a studied way of crafting riffs that walk between genres and deliver enough grit and beef to get you moving. Ioannidis has a wild, crazy voice and can go too far at times. He can get overly shrill and sharp and reaches for notes outside his range. He’s also very heavily accented, which adds both charm and a notable cringe factor. I can see him being a total deal-breaker for some, but I find his style more entertaining than annoying. In fact, he’s a big part of the fun factor here.

The Cosmic Race is a rowdy, rollicking, and flawed trip through power metal’s past that shows there’s still life left in this olde Scanner. It’s got some highly entertaining cuts that will get heavy replays and a few clunkers, but on balance, I found this a fun blast from the past and it has me revisiting those classic platters too. I didn’t expect this much from Scanner in 2024, that’s for sure. In short: raise the 3.0 Tree!

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: NA | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: ROAR Rock of Angels
Websites: scanner4u.de | facebook.com/scanner
Releases Worldwide: January 12th, 2024

#2024 #30 #Domine #GammaRay #HeavyMetal #Helloween #Jan24 #PowerMetal #Review #Reviews #RoarRockOfAngelsRecords #Scanner #TheCosmicRace

@matthewgraybosch do you know the Italian metal band Domine? In the late 90s, they recorded some Moorcock-inspired albums.

#domine #epicmetal #MichaelMoorcok #ItalianMetal #HeavyMetal

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mEw1REynlSAsDyrecuvanEiBMuGwDmhEU&feature=share