Ha! May 2024’s crop seems to yield a fair amount of Trad and Heavy Metal. Young bands with a desire to keep the flame of the spirit of the wizened old warhorses alive and start leading the charge. Greyhawk – for instance – just got a review on RMR and it was a revelation.
But – this will prove a challenge for Flamekeeper, the next contender. The bar has been set mighty high by the old, seasoned geezers of the genre and the potent new folk alike. Your belly needs to be afire with ferocious fervor and the power of Thor if you want to become the flamebearer leading the charge. So, does Flamekeeper have the goods to get there? Their name suggests they do. But can they keep it up? Break out those vitamins.
Well, the video below already points in the right direction. Metallic antics that are feisty, powerful, and straight in yer face, performed by half-naked, muscle-clad manly men. Lena Richter, a talented album artist from Germany, yet again provided a neat cover to spiff things up. It appears she cruelly hooked us yet again, as she did for Tarot not that long ago. And, truly, Flamekeeper for sure doesn’t lack enthusiasm. The airtime of barely 31 minutes comes with an abundance of zesty passion. The bite-sized tracks, all at around the three-minute mark, for sure allow for crisp progress through the tracklist. But this little facet also caused some confusion over here. Usually, supershort albums are the daily bread of punk acts. And this one ain’t one of them for sure.
But Flamekeeper‘s energy levels could indeed be infectious. Could, yep you read that correctly. Because the moment Marco S. Vermiglio1 lets loose with his limited reach, we’re somewhere in the middle of the mighty stream that guides. The abundant clears neatly fit the well-trodden tracks of Traditional and Heavy Metal. And so do the generic riffing and the often astonishingly snazzy solo work.
Simplicity breeds clarity. This indeed seems to be the credo Flamekeeper took on board once they started writing songs. So, unsurprisingly, the somewhat frugal arrangement sails along a tracklist that won’t sport many ornaments. The hefty drum work, on the other hand, often valiantly tries to fill in those hollow spots created by the lack of shiny gems available on the record.
So, you see, the midstream thing is nice and safe. Even comfortable. And thus, Flamekeeper won’t contain any insanely catchy melody to write to mama about, no lusty metal screams or ballad-driven harmonies that would make us raise our weary heads. And that, even if the band at times valiantly and audibly tries to inject some Power Metal vibes.
Marco and his merry men also claim to get their creative boost from – and I quote – “…classic acts of the golden era of Hard ‘n Heavy music such as Metallica, Dio and Manowar…” and scoff at “…nostalgic clichés.” And yeah, I understand that a band won’t burn with desire to rehash what others already repeated ad nauseam. That said, to follow the path o’ wisdom of the aforementioned metal outfits, Flamekeeper would have needed to kick it up a few notches nonetheless. Just take a few hints from masters like Dio and shine, that kind of thing.
‘More meat, please!’ That’s the geezers’ battle cry over at the Review Desk when listening to the piece, always yelled directly at the loudspeakers.2 It indeed appears that Flamekeeper kept a tad too much to the barebone songwriting thing. Some more oomph in the metal and – indeed – lengthier tracks would have worked wonders.
But it’s not that the record is totally devoid of excellent tidbits that we should have had more of. Stray Yet Still Free or As One With Light, for instance, boast some true energy with one of the best solos of the record all in one. But, as the saying goes, ‘one swallow does not a summer make’. The RMR crew missed the fist-pumping ferocity, the epic soundscapes that would allow to pull this wagon out of the muck and into the open where great Heavy Metal records dwell.
So, maybe next time? Flamekeeper have some work to do in the meantime, methinks. And remember, not all clichés are bad.
Record Rating: 5/10 | Label: Invictus Productions | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 10 May 2024