Suburban

The 4^th full length from these Swiss prog/power , for a band that’s been around  for 15 years that’s not  a lot and for me it’s the first  introduction to the band.  There was a time in the mid eighties and early nineties that this sort  melodic  prog/power metal was  the playground of  a limited number of bands from the USA .  Indeed  like FATES WARNING, LETHAL ,CRIMSON GLORY  early DREAM THEATER have set a standard back then which in my opinion is still not matched by  any of  prog power  metal albums released the last 10  years or so….

Skinflint originates from Botswana, a country more known for it’s diamonds than for it’s music.  I’d never heard of the band, yet is seems this is their fouth album already.  The band is made up of three musicians.

Darkness Divided is a Christian Metalcore band which originated as a worship act at church youth retreats, where Gerard Mora (lead unclean vocals), Christopher James Mora (guitar & backing unclean vocals) and Joseph Mora (bass) played songs in the Jeremy Camp and Third Day style.

Finally a power metal album which is worthy of the term Power metal, US power metal from Detroit that is.  So that means high pitched yet powerful vocals, (no DRAGONFORCE / BLIND GUARDIAN/ HELLOWEEN crap) ferocious guitar riffs and leads assisted  by  a tight rhythm section.

German power metal… even after 35 year or so it stays a story of some hits but mainly loads of misses.  So is FORENSICK a hit or a miss…?  Well let’s call it a bit of both..   On a positive note the band is not overdoing it with choirs, happy singalong choruses and pompous sounding  keyboards..

Udo Dirkschneider has been in the music business since 40 years, first with German metal band Accept, with whom he got his first success, afterwards with his own band, simply named after himself UDO.  This is his fifteenth studio album so far, and while not a true concept album, it’s main theme is the decadency of nowadays life, especially by the rich and privileged part of our society.

When I put this CD on, I had not looked at the info about this band yet.  Upon hearing the first notes I said to myself : I have heard this voice before.  And damn right I was, vocalist is none other than Urban breed (Tad Morose, Bloodbound, …).  So I started looking through the other info.

“Stormborn” is the  new  (4th) album  from Swedisch  metal band Bloodbound.  Bloodbound  decribe  “Stormborn" as a bombastic well  produced  album bringing  us metal hyms of exceptional class”……  Is this correct I than think….  Well it is partially,  it’s bombastic and it’s well produced, in fact it’s so bombastic that after playing it a couple of times the overkill of choruses and choir singalongs  make Stormborn   sound rather childish  (Satanic Panic, Iron throne or  just about every other track) instead of epic and that can’t

The Gathering is a band I vaguely knew by name, and I might have heard some songs of them in the past, but that’’s about  it.  So when I was given this triple CD to review, I didn’t really know what was coming towards me.  Hell, I didn’t even know this band had been around for 25 years already.

How painful : a Metal band with its first 3 albums (2001's Revolution Revolución, 2003's Confession and 2005's One Nation Underground) out on Roadrunner Records...and there's not even one in my collection, nor any of the albums which followed (2008's Enigma, 2010's Dead New World and 2012's Epidemia), and that with the sales figures of the two first albums already exceeding a million copies! I guess I' have to make some kind of mending, by relating to you the band's history in a nut-shell?