Tag Archives: Power Metal

Hibria – Hibria (2015) – Review

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Someone is knocking on Heavy Metal’s door! Big time. And who is brandishing these fucking pipes? ‘Tis must come from Ronnie James Dio, but this dear friend and companion met the other side for a while now. 

It is Iuri Sanson of the Brazilian Power and Heavy Metal band Hibria. With their self-titled 2015 amazingly rocky album, no less. The RMR deck crew really fancy their powerful and – I daresay – old-style approach to metal. Kind of showing the Great Old Ones of Heavy Metal where the new masters are.

I really like the drum work provided by Eduardo Baldo. Complex structures galore, as … [...] Click to raid more!

Nightwish – Once (2004) – Review

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Yes, it is! The 2004 release Once of Finnish metallers Nightwish really is … typical Nightwish fare after all. But with a real hard-edge Heavy Metal twist that I have not seen displayed yet by this band; before and after this record.

Because the ones that came before – for instance Oceanborn and to a lesser extent Century Child – ended up being some sort of a uniform amalgam of stuff. Power Metal and Gothic Metal – yes to an extent – but nothing really knocking the socks off my feet. And the albums following this here release are of a different style in a sense.

Once already exudes

… [...] Click to raid more!

Nemesea – Mana (2004) – Review

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Nemesea claimed a few years ago that their first studio album Mana was written and produced in somewhat of a hellfire hurry back in 2004. Thus they aligned the style to the usual Gothic and Symphonic Metal outfits already at work at that time. And this is a really strange statement to make from any band. 

Only to be confronted with a result that the band did not feel wholly comfortable with. This weird approach made them change their musical direction straight after this album.

A fact that became very evident in their later productions In Control and The Quiet Resistance. Their mutual soul-searching on style and … [...] Click to raid more!

Kamelot – Haven (2015) – Review

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Kamelot! The name sends you echoes of mystical events way back in time. To King Arthus’ court of the round table of valiant knights. An epic era much shrouded in fabulously famous legends of all kinds. And here we are expecting something stellar around these lines. Metal at its best.

And I am getting something that somehow sounds like it, but it just does not quite feel right. Epica made the same mistake lately with their 2014 disc The Quantum Enigma – the overdone turkey one, with too much gravy. Too much over-compressed bombast, too many instruments to play … [...] Click to raid more!