Decent Power Metal
Artiste: Axenstar
Nationality: Swedish
Album: The Inquisition
Year: 2005
Label: Arise
Genre: Power Metal
Tracks:
The fallen one
Under black wings
Salvation
Inside your mind
Daydreamer
Drifting
The burning
Run or hide
The sands of time
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Axenstar used to be called Powerage. What? It's the most interesting thing I could find out about them...
Initial impression: Darker and grindier than expected
Best track(s): The Fallen One, Inside your mind, Drifting, Sands of time
Worst track(s): None
Comments: Power metal bands, sound all the same? Well this one has a little something extra. Hailing from Sweden, Axenstar, whose name sounds synonymous with singing about dragons and castles and elves, seem more concerned with a form of black metal, lyrically, with songs like
The Fallen One and
Under black wings, but they combine these darker, more gothic elements with proper fast power metal, the two guitarists sparring off each other. Keyboards always help add an extra layer to any band, especially metal, and here vocalist Magnus Winterwild (what a great name!) doubles on keys to smooth that veneer of progressive metal over the more intense parts of the songs here.
He's a good vocalist too, clear and powerful, with the songs alternating between fast shredders and slower, more doomy grinders, and drummer Pontus Jansson is certainly not averse to trundling the drums along when required, which is most of the time. Quite catchy melodies, especially the solo in
Under black wings, with a very Maidenesque intro to
Salvation, on which Winterwild's vocal gets a little rougher and gruffer, with his keys coming into serious play. There's an almost AOR feel to
Daydreamer, then there's a nice change of pace with close to an acoustic ballad in
Drifting before they're off and running again as
The Burning fires on all cylinders, with a certain neo-classical feel to the keyboards.
There's nothing terribly new or different about Axenstar, but then, what do you expect from a power metal band? There's not a huge amount of room for development within the genre really, so my verdict on these guys is that they're as good as many a power metal band out there, better than some but certainly not the very best the genre has to offer. A worthy effort nevertheless, and definitely worth checking out.
Overall impression: Impressive, powerful but not overblown. Good solid power metal with some very catchy tunes.
Intention: Yeah, I'd listen to them again.