Music Banter - View Single Post - Bitesize: Trollheart's Daily Album Mini-Reviews

Trollheart · 02-07-2014, 02:19 PM

Power Metal by the numbers...

Artiste: Heimdall
Nationality: Italian
Album: Aeneid
Year: 2013
Label: Scarlet Records
Genre: Power Metal
Tracks:
Book I: Prologue
Book II: Forced by fate
Book III: Save you
Book IV: Waiting for the dawn
Book V: Ballad of the Queen
Book VI: Funeral song
Book VII: Underworld
Book VIII: Gates of war
Book IX: Hero
Book X: Night on the world
Book XI: All of us
Book XII: Away
Book XIII: The last act
Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: It's been nine years between this and Heimdall's previous album, 2004's “Hard as iron”.
Initial impression: Big spoken intro, oh so scary! Bit formulaic...
Best track(s): Save you, Ballad of the Queen, Gates of war, Night on the world, Away
Worst track(s): Nothing terrible, nothing I'd class as a bad track, but some are much better than others.
Comments: Another Italian power metal band? Seems like if I ever went there I wouldn't be able to go down a via or a plaza without bumping into any number of them. Italy must have the largest percentage of power metal bands, per capita, next to the USA. But are Heimdall any different? Well, like many bands in this genre they take the mythology of Scandinavia as their subject matter, indeed their name is taken from that of the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge in Norse mythos. Their vocalist, Gandolfo Ferro, subscribes to the high-pitched-without-actually-screaming school of singing, and he's not bad at all. Triple guitars from Umberto Parisi, Fabio Caluori and Carmelo Claps (I kid you not!) provide the power in this power metal, but oddly enough unlike many of their contemporaries they seem not to use keyboards. And yet I'm sure I hear a keyboard riff there as Book III: Save you opens --- yeah, each track is numbered like a book in a series.

This is actually the first point at which I get interested. Has a great hook and powerful keys --- damn it, they are keys, I don't care what anyone says! --- and rides along on a real wave of energy with some superb solos from the trio of axemen, then there's a real familiarity about Ballad of the Queen --- which is obviously a ballad --- oh yeah! It sounds a lot like Maiden's Blood brothers, at least the opening section. Decent song. Note: I'm leaving out the “Book” suffixes here; just serves to number them really, nothing else. Funeral song consists mostly of low percussion, pealing doomy bells which are joined by what sounds like violin and then church organ and, just to confuse us, some uileann pipes or tin whistle, but it's a short little instrumental that I think Heimdall perhaps try to pack too much into.

Underworld is a good rocker with gothic overtones and some fine shredding, then marching boots, thunder and storm noises bring in the slightly more AOR-like Gates of war, where whoever is on the keys takes the reins, the song a more muted affair than the previous but just as heavy. Bit of an odd ending, little confused. Everything kicks back up to ten then for Hero which pounds along nicely and into Night on the world, riding on some nice keyboard lines and some scorching riffs.

There's a really nice second ballad, piano-led with some powerful vocal harmonies and choruses in Away --- this is actually a far superior ballad to the first one, though sadly much shorter, at less than two minutes. The closer is the powerful metal punch and finale you'd expect, and the album certainly ends strongly after not really losing too much in the way of quality or power throughout its run.

I guess Power Metal is not exactly the most innovative subgenre there is; there's not a lot that hasn't already been done and often bands seem to be just retreading old ground which can make them seem unoriginal. Yet for what they do, Heimdall here seem to know what they're about and they put on a good show. They're not exactly reforging the sword first wielded by Manowar and Virgin Steele, but they're certainly keeping an edge on it.

Overall impression: Not bad, but nothing I haven't heard a million times before.
Intention: Might look into the rest of their albums, but won't be too rushed about it.

02-07-2014, 02:19 PM	#185 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Power Metal by the numbers... Artiste: Heimdall Nationality: Italian Album: Aeneid Year: 2013 Label: Scarlet Records Genre: Power Metal Tracks: Book I: Prologue Book II: Forced by fate Book III: Save you Book IV: Waiting for the dawn Book V: Ballad of the Queen Book VI: Funeral song Book VII: Underworld Book VIII: Gates of war Book IX: Hero Book X: Night on the world Book XI: All of us Book XII: Away Book XIII: The last act Chronological position: Fifth album Familiarity: Zero Interesting factoid: It's been nine years between this and Heimdall's previous album, 2004's “Hard as iron”. Initial impression: Big spoken intro, oh so scary! Bit formulaic... Best track(s): Save you, Ballad of the Queen, Gates of war, Night on the world, Away Worst track(s): Nothing terrible, nothing I'd class as a bad track, but some are much better than others. Comments: Another Italian power metal band? Seems like if I ever went there I wouldn't be able to go down a via or a plaza without bumping into any number of them. Italy must have the largest percentage of power metal bands, per capita, next to the USA. But are Heimdall any different? Well, like many bands in this genre they take the mythology of Scandinavia as their subject matter, indeed their name is taken from that of the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge in Norse mythos. Their vocalist, Gandolfo Ferro, subscribes to the high-pitched-without-actually-screaming school of singing, and he's not bad at all. Triple guitars from Umberto Parisi, Fabio Caluori and Carmelo Claps (I kid you not!) provide the power in this power metal, but oddly enough unlike many of their contemporaries they seem not to use keyboards. And yet I'm sure I hear a keyboard riff there as Book III: Save you opens --- yeah, each track is numbered like a book in a series. This is actually the first point at which I get interested. Has a great hook and powerful keys --- damn it, they are keys, I don't care what anyone says! --- and rides along on a real wave of energy with some superb solos from the trio of axemen, then there's a real familiarity about Ballad of the Queen --- which is obviously a ballad --- oh yeah! It sounds a lot like Maiden's Blood brothers, at least the opening section. Decent song. Note: I'm leaving out the “Book” suffixes here; just serves to number them really, nothing else. Funeral song consists mostly of low percussion, pealing doomy bells which are joined by what sounds like violin and then church organ and, just to confuse us, some uileann pipes or tin whistle, but it's a short little instrumental that I think Heimdall perhaps try to pack too much into. Underworld is a good rocker with gothic overtones and some fine shredding, then marching boots, thunder and storm noises bring in the slightly more AOR-like Gates of war, where whoever is on the keys takes the reins, the song a more muted affair than the previous but just as heavy. Bit of an odd ending, little confused. Everything kicks back up to ten then for Hero which pounds along nicely and into Night on the world, riding on some nice keyboard lines and some scorching riffs. There's a really nice second ballad, piano-led with some powerful vocal harmonies and choruses in Away --- this is actually a far superior ballad to the first one, though sadly much shorter, at less than two minutes. The closer is the powerful metal punch and finale you'd expect, and the album certainly ends strongly after not really losing too much in the way of quality or power throughout its run. I guess Power Metal is not exactly the most innovative subgenre there is; there's not a lot that hasn't already been done and often bands seem to be just retreading old ground which can make them seem unoriginal. Yet for what they do, Heimdall here seem to know what they're about and they put on a good show. They're not exactly reforging the sword first wielded by Manowar and Virgin Steele, but they're certainly keeping an edge on it. Overall impression: Not bad, but nothing I haven't heard a million times before. Intention: Might look into the rest of their albums, but won't be too rushed about it. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 01-12-2015 at 11:22 AM.