And I thought that the newest Traveler album art would be devoid of tentacled beings this time. But no, those Canadians insist on them. And to add insult to injury, the cover comes in an annoying yellow-orange mess with some pukish green and blue to round things up some. Oh boy. But then, I think that an object called Prequel to Madness should somehow try to drive you nuts already. Right?
And good that we didn’t just judge the record by those garish colors but let Termination Shock, the new record’s feisty predecessor, guide us somewhat. But – chastised RMR admits – that it took us a while to get into this here new record. Because, right from the start, a weak and tinny sound, much like one of those age-old MIDI recordings, got even further under our skin. The intro from hell, done by some apprentice, if you will. So, is it just the crappy quality of the download or plain bad production? It could indeed be both. But fear naught, things will be looking more lively further down the tracklist. Fingers crossed.
To nobody’s surprise, Prequel to Madness recklessly roars forth straight from the atrocious intro. The RMR crew got itself yet another speedy and high-octane Heavy Metal piece from Canada. A jumble of tracks that won’t hide their near-misses with Iron Maiden, Rob Halford’s Judas Priest, and items like Riot City. All of that is fueled by JP Abboud‘s merciless wail and the Ries / Schadlich tag team’s relentless guitar assault. A record with a much denser and almost monolithic songwriting style compared to their 2020 piece. And once Take The Wheel rips into the fray, maidenesque rough-hewn riffing and some exuberant soloing of the guitar tag team will take over.
It is indeed as if the Traveler found the perfect balance between a smooth rumbling sound, adrenaline-fueled riffs, and solos. Prequel to Madness rushes onto the stage with a cocksure manner of a band in its prime. Gone is the meandering about the soundscape of former records. In other words, the songwriting ain’t only denser, but you also won’t find any of those loose ends anymore that plagued Termination Shock to an extent. All tracks aren’t exactly bite-sized but you won’t find any ‘epic’ piece out here. And the whole album flows much better than before. Need proof? Head straight to the end of the list. Prequel to Madness – the title track – will teach them mean masses how jet-fueled Heavy Metal pieces ought to sound. Boy, we didn’t even mind its extensive 7 minutes length.
And yet. Amidst all that galloping about the soundscape, Traveler somehow often forgot to chisel out the mix and master with some extra muscle to really blow your mind. It’s all about reckless velocity and hollering about the tracklist. And we appreciate that. But a band needs to keep a powerful and feisty sound if you’re to keep up with the mighty competition in this genre. And this is where this madness thing falls somewhat short. This issue is indeed worst at the beginning of the album but it never quite stops. And this makes me want to drop in on one of their concerts to check the oomph and power of a live band that should be louder than AC/DC was back in time.
But by and large, Prequel to Madness continues right where its predecessor left off. You won’t find any real innovation on this disk. And that is perfectly alright. Instead, Traveler here added a few decibels and red-blooded meat to an already mighty production. And this despite the aforementioned shortcomings.1 And they did this with a fearless swagger that sometimes made the RMR crew fearful that the band’s endeavor might suddenly sink like the Titanic a long time ago. But – to the contrary – the RMR crew found an outfit with boundless energy and a ton of ideas on how to revive that sound ‘n’ feel of Heavy Metal of the ’80s and ’90s. This was and still is the real thing. Meaty echoes from a time when metal was just – metal. Straightforward, exciting, and wild. And we need more of that.
Record Rating: 6/10 | Label: No Remorse Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 23 February 2024
- Ve vant MOAR, get it?-↩