Category: 2025

July 23, 2025 2025, Blog related, rant Post a Comment

Gateways and Gatekeepers

I waffled back and forth on writing this, at first because I wasn’t entirely sure if my thoughts on the topic were coherent even to myself, but secondly, because I expect that it will be easy for what I’m saying to be misconstrued or distorted simply because certain terms tend to bring along their own baggage whenever you use them. Gatekeeping is of course the term in question that I’m referring to, and its come up a lot more lately with the surge in popularity of Sleep Token, a band that I don’t have strong feelings on one way or another. Their sound is interesting, like a more soulful Linkin Park with the harder edges sanded off a bit, dressed up in a gothic meets cult (as in the hooded mysterious kind, not the “Firewoooomon” declaring kind) visual package that is appealing to me for its attempt at showmanship and ambition. I’m glad they’re successful, and hopeful that they are drawing a younger audience that is perhaps new to rock music or even rock adjacent music, let alone metal. A happy consequence of the success they’re having is it establishes a new arena level band that can invite along up and coming support acts, and establishes a festival headliner for the future as well as acting as a gateway band for newcomers to heavier music. Ahhhh! The gate!

That root word that enflames so many an online bickerings. Yes, there is a gate, and there have always been gateway bands and yes, gatekeeping attitudes, but I believe that its meaning and usage has been distorted by social media to only mean something ugly, repressive, and exclusionary — and I disagree with that definition. And it may seem like I’m just singling out social media in particular as the culprit here, but it has been hard not to notice that most of the discourse surrounding this term is largely percolating within places such as X, Bluesky, Facebook, and most glaringly, Threads. I’ll single out the latter since its where I’ve been seeing most of this kind of performative rage bait posting that gets airlifted to the top of my feed due to the algorithm (which still promotes posts over a half a year old as long as it generates views). Maybe I’m being too harsh, and there was a precluding incident with another metalhead that sparked that thread in the first place, but somehow, I doubt it. Gatekeeping as defined by that and similar social media posts decrying it are I believe an exclusively online phenomenon that happens within various social media platforms comments sections, where good faith and societal decency begin to decay and turn into something toxic.

Awhile back I wrote a history of my becoming a metalhead, and I shared an anecdote about the one pivotal time I might have actually been gatekept by two older metalheads who were in my percussion section in junior high band. It was a catalyzing moment in my life as a metalhead, because despite the hostility I received from one of them (shoutout Chad!), their admonition to me to look beyond mainstream metal (in this particular case, Metallica) and learn about other bands was critical to my entire mindset. Before that incident, I figured that the only bands worth checking out were the big ones I had heard of, and that the unknown bands just weren’t as good, but those two guys (even though they could be jerks about it) forced me to change my entire mindset and start learning and exploring. Something I neglected to mention in that linked article is that I would often come back to them when I’d learn about another awesome band and talk about what I’d heard, and they’d gruffly chime in with what they thought I should check out next. So yeah they were acting like gatekeepers in a way, but they didn’t discourage me from learning more about metal, quite the opposite actually, they were helping to guide me through the gate and pointing out which way to travel once through.

That imagery, of the gatekeeper, I’ve always likened to something akin to the figure Hammerfall’s Glory to the Brave cover, a stoic, battle-hammer wielding, armored guardian who is refusing entrance to some short sleeved poseurs meekly attempting to get by to the hellscape that exists beyond. Its a ridiculous thought of course, and not entirely helpful here because there’s no physical gate in this artwork either, so lets imagine one anyway for the purposes of this thought experiment. Is the gatekeeper always defined as someone who is keeping others out, or can the role of a gatekeeper be to welcome newcomers, and usher them through the gate while pointing or guiding them towards worthwhile paths? Extrapolating this to music, we all got here through a gateway of some kind, be it the first time you heard a Metallica or Iron Maiden song, or maybe you unwittingly tagged along to a metal show with an older sibling or friend and it blew your mind. No one started out in metal already loving second wave Norwegian black metal before they had heard something far more broader in reach, something more mainstream and palatable. So we all started to walk through a gateway, and hopefully, all of us were lucky enough to have a gatekeeper who helped us navigate our way through the wilderness once we were through.

My real life experience that I detailed above happened in the mid-90s, before social media and internet discourse ruled so much of our interactions with fellow human beings. I realize in watching older documentaries such as Heavy Metal Parking Lot and the Decline and Fall of Western Civilization that in those times, gatekeeping was very much a tangible, in your face thing that was happening to people all the time. Woe must have befallen the unsuspecting person wearing a glam metal t-shirt in that Judas Priest parking lot for example, and I’m not saying that was okay by any means, but it was how things were back then, the culture of its time, the same as my incident in my junior high band hall. Today, where we walk into bars or even restaurants and see people with their faces bent downwards staring at their phones, the very nature of our interpersonal interactions have changed dramatically (a topic for another time and place perhaps). What I’m getting at here, is that metal gatekeeping doesn’t happen in public — if you’re an exception to this, if someone has asked you to name three songs by the band whose shirt you’re wearing, you weren’t being gatekept, that person was just being an a-hole (and I realize this happens to women metalheads at times and I wish it didn’t). What I think this “gatekeeping” that so many social media posts are decrying is really just the volatility of comments on social media posts where anonymity or the newly dubbed online disinhibition effect (that being the reduced sense of restraint people feel when interacting online compared to face-to-face interactions) is in full swing.

I’m among a plethora of metalheads who are airing their thoughts on this in far more articulate ways than I likely am, such as John Barbas who explored it in depth with this episode of his Heavy Metal Philosophy show; or Steve Bryne’s really good piece in Loudwire on this very topic. One of the recurring things we’re all coming back to is the notion of whether or not gatekeeping really exists at all, or are we all jumping at online phantoms in the form of barbed and pointed random social media comments and getting up in arms about them. The people writing those comments that appear gatekeeper-ish actually have no way to gatekeep anything, they’re not excluding you from a potential circle of friends because of your Def Leppard shirt, they’re not preventing you from listening to whatever you want to hear, they’re just being jerks online, because its so easy to be a jerk online. And I’m really starting to feel that the people who stand stentorian on the mount, hands on hips as they decry those comments are also participating in a form of jerkdom — maybe one that’s fundamentally worse, because they’re seeking arguments and reactions in favor of gaining clout, likes, or whatever statistic serves the dopamine hit for them. I’m calling for all of us to just become more aware of this schtick as a whole, because it is schtick from both sides, and its taking advantage of our already plugged in states and just causing conflict for no reason. Lets be productive metalheads, be encouraging, spread the word of bands we love and albums we care about, and try to ignore the noise.

May 18, 2025 2025, Blog related, Brainstorm, The Metal Pigeon Recommends Post a Comment

The Metal Pigeon Recommends — Part Six: Brainstorm

One of the most overlooked bands to storm out of Germany, Brainstorm are veteran traditional/power metal stalwarts who have been delivering quality heavy metal since 1997 with their aptly titled debut Hungry. I first remember hearing about them in 2001 from Dr. Metal’s Metal Meltdown show on WRUW in Cleveland (I’ve mentioned him before, particularly in my biographical essay, but he was a huge influence on me in terms of introducing power and trad metal bands from Europe). The band’s then newly joined vocalist Andy B. Franck (the cadence of his full name always makes me smile) was on the show and they were talking about the new album, his other band Symphorce (also underappreciated), and generally just shooting the breeze about anything and everything. Dr. Metal’s interviews were always excellent, but Andy was particularly engaging, humorous and easy going, and I not only liked the tracks I heard being played, but became an instant fan of the band just by virtue of wanting to root for the guy.

Personality aside, he’s been one of the most unheralded great vocalists in power metal for the past two plus decades, a model of consistency like fellow Germans Mille Petrozza and Klaus Meine (something in those Rhine fed waters I guess?). But it wasn’t just Franck that was the draw, because guitarists Torsten Ihlenfeld and Milan Loncaric dished out a heavier, beefier take on the Judas Priest-ian twin guitar attack, with thundering, rumbling riffage and tasteful harmonized leads. Ihlenfeld and Franck seemed to immediately gel as songwriting partners (alongside contributions from the rest of the band), and formed the core of a songwriting partnership that has carried the band up to the present day. They just released a genuinely incredible album this year in Plague of Rats, one that could easily claim the title of the best in their discography. But rather than just discuss that album, I thought it might be better to properly introduce newcomers to Brainstorm and their intimidatingly lengthy discography via this recurring feature I’ve employed previously to talk about other bands I’m passionate about. I’ve picked out ten songs from their discography that I think might make a fan out of you, and am presenting them below in chronological order. So get some bratwurst, some schnitzel, and die Biere, and check out the bangers below!

“Tell-Tale Heart” (Hungry, 1997)

The early years of Brainstorm featured singer Marcus Jürgens (ex-Pump, TwentyDarkSeven) in the lineup, whose vocal approach was a little rougher around the edges and lighter in tone than Andy B Franck (who at this time was still in his pre-Brainstorm band Ivanhoe and only on the verge of forming Symphorce, his other long term ongoing concern). It’s fair to say that these first two albums Hungry and Unholy didn’t gain much traction beyond German and European trad metal circles, but they did enough to garner the notice of Metal Blade records who helped the band breakout continentally on 2000’s Ambiguity. Jürgens does have a little John Bush thing happening vocally that I’ve always found interesting, like Brainstorm unwittingly grabbed an American posing as a German for the job, but he’s a great fit for where the band was at this time. They were finding their footing, and you can hear shades of the more richly melodic, quasi-epic direction they’d continue on later, but for the most part, this is straight forward meat and potatoes heavy metal. This gem, buried in the middle of their debut was always the standout on both albums for me, a legitimate rhythmic headbanger with a knock out hook.

“Blind Suffering” (Metus Mortis, 2001)

The first genuine fan favorite in the band’s history, “Blind Suffering” has been a concert staple since Metus Mortis dropped in 2001 and made waves over the European metal mainland. Just a flat out bruiser, that memorable drum pattern intro and one of the band’s most straight to the gut riff progressions to follow. This was Andy B Franck’s second album with the band, and his signature approach within the band’s style really came to gel here, that being a blended Udo-Mustaine-Kiske booming bellow that he’d layer up in the choruses to elevate their impact. It worked spectacularly well, so well in fact that he never really stopped doing it, and it gave the band’s sound a splash of the grandiose and epic pomposity that fellow countrymen Blind Guardian were of course serving up in full course platters by this point in their career. Was bummed to notice that they’d finally left this off their setlists in recent years, I’m assuming because the discography got so long as to edge it out — they should bring it back though, its an all time classic.

“The Leading” (Soul Temptation, 2003)

One of a pair of bangers from the band’s breakout album Soul Temptation, “The Leading” is one of the band’s best marriages of hooky and heavy. Built on meat and potatoes heavy chugging with a splash of prog complexity in the riff progressions, I always thought that this was the era where the band sounded closest to their peers in Tad Morose, particularly around this same era when the latter were releasing their bonafide masterpiece with Urban Breed in Modus Vivendi. Pair that with bands such as Kamelot, Circle II Circle, and Manticora releasing incredible albums full of darker toned power metal that was heavier in tone and in spirit, and Brainstorm found themselves in the midst of a full blown sea change in what was considered de rigueur in power metal circles. Yet Franck’s vocals provide soaring uplift, a deft demonstration of his rarely deployed higher register that showed some classic power metal had rubbed off on this band of Germans. This is one of those old power metal jams that just randomly will pop into my head at any odd moment, a hook that is likely burned into my brain forever.

“Shivas Tears” (Soul Temptation, 2003)

The iconic track from Soul Temptation, and the likely inspiration for its surreal cover art, this gem has always been characterized by the prominence of Miro Rodenburg’s layered, lush keyboard arrangement. He had been working with the band since Metus Mortis, but really got to go hog wild for the first time here, bringing an Indian-flavored arrangement into the proceedings to complement the song’s lyrical theme. The juxtaposition between its floral, incense smoke perfumed notes and the pummeling, mechanistic riffs was entrancing and hypnotic. My favorite association with this tune is their epic show opening performance of it at Wacken 2004, thankfully immortalized on professionally shot video. Do yourself a favor by settling in to watch that live show, because they are on fire and Franck is as convincing and effective a frontman as power metal during that era, easily one of my favorite Wacken sets of all time. That’s a crowd that only partially knows the band, and they’re all headbanging along to this tune because how the hell could you not?

“Fire Walk With Me” (Downburst, 2008)

The band had a slight misstep with 2005’s Liquid Monster, which although boasting the band’s first charting single “All Those Words” (top five in Hungary) largely fell short of the standards set on the preceding Franck fronted albums. Our first taste of their rebound three years later on Downburst was this absolute banger of a single in “Fire Walk With Me”, with a direct, hard hitting approach that shook off some of the choir/orchestral excesses of Liquid Monster. This song is emblematic of the album, getting back to the core of what Brainstorm did so well in stuffing head noddingly catchy vocal lines amidst thunderingly heavy guitars. The rhythmic call and response gang vocals here always reminded me of a thrash approach as well, something akin to Anthrax or Armored Saint, and they’re a vivid reminder here that Ihlenfeld and Loncaric have been solid backing vocalists throughout the history of the band. I imagine hardcore Brainstorm fans will argue that there’s deeper cuts on Downburst worthy of recognition (one of them is below), but I remember how much this single fired everyone up (including me) back in the day, and that’s worth its inclusion here.

“How Do You Feel” (Downburst, 2008)

It’s interesting how in retrospect there’s a growing consensus that Downburst is arguably the bands best album — though I feel that some might look back further to Metus Mortis or Soul Temptation (particularly the band themselves regarding the latter, having given a direct nod towards it on their recent new album). For my part, I waffle between all three but having dived into Downburst once again for this feature, I’m reminded of just how awesome this album is, running lean throughout, with a sharper sense of balancing keyboard elements with a return to a heavier hitting style, and a production that might be their career best. And this tune in particular I think exemplifies all those aforementioned details that the band got right on the album. I love the Dokken-ian riff progressions during the verses, particularly after the chorus with that gorgeously melodic outro solo. Franck’s deft vocal melodies veer between smooth emotiveness, and that rugged, throaty sandpaper growl that gives the chorus its grit and grime. My favorite song off this incredible album, this is the album to start with from the band for newcomers.

“The Conjunction of 7 Planets” (Memorial Roots, 2009)

A deep cut on one of the band’s most divided albums in Memorial Roots, “The Conjunction of 7 Planets” saw the band sharply moving into more lengthy, progressive territory. Like the album as a whole, there was less of the razor sharp attacking riffs heard on Downburst and more of a grittier, earthen tone to these songs, matching the album artwork and title at that. This tune took awhile to grow on me, with its slowly building, patience requiring verse passages and longer flowing refrain sequence, but it was the lyrical subject matter about religious end time prophecies and their usage to subjugate believers with fear that really stood out. Brainstorm always had competent lyrics, but I thought the band elevated their game as whole on this album. An interesting note on the production, because the earthen toned, rounder edges throughout this album caused some debate among fans at the time of its release, and this was maybe a result of the producer Sascha Paeth favoring that style as a whole (recall that the Edguy and Avantasia releases he produced around that time were also mixed in this vein). The band seemed to agree with those fans because in 2016 they released a remixed version of this album (Memorial Roots Re-Rooted) remixed by their longtime producer Achim Köhler who had been with them since the Metus Mortis days. Tellingly, the band kept on working with Miro for keyboard parts but never returned to Paeth for production or mixing duties, eventually switching to Orden Ogan’s Seeb Levermann, for good it seems.

“Ravenous Minds” (Midnight Ghost, 2018)

We fast forward almost a decade in time to 2018 and the release of Midnight Ghost, the band’s first album with Levermann handling production and in many ways assisting the band in revitalizing their sound to astonishing success. The decade since the last track on this list yielded three fairly middle of the road albums, pockmarked with some decent songs, but admittedly some filler bloat, and if streaming numbers are anything to go by, they were largely only listened to by diehard fans of the band, failing to pull in new listeners. That certainly wasn’t the case with “Ravenous Minds”, the biggest song of the band’s career and their first million plus (nearly two million now) streaming hit. Whatever it was about collaborating with Levermann that sparked the band’s creative battery, it filtered throughout the album and yielded one of the strongest albums of their career, as well as the dawning of the more modern sounding Brainstorm that has been their sonic modus operandi ever since. The stomping yet surprisingly epic, Blind Guardian-esque monster of a hook that anchors this song was one of the most earwormy moments in the band’s discography, and easily one of the most vocal melody dependent. Over two decades singing aggressive melodic metal, Franck was proving that he hadn’t lost a step and was only getting better with age.

“Glory Disappears” (Wall of Skulls, 2021)

While “Ravenous Minds” is the band’s most popular song, in second place is the absolutely incredible “Glory Disappears” off the subsequent album Wall of Skulls three years later. If not my favorite Brainstorm tune, easily in the top three, I think the epic, ultra satisfying chorus at work here speaks for itself, this song landing the top five of my best songs of 2021 list. Its also a bit of an anomaly on Wall of Skulls itself, being one of the few mid-paced tunes on an album that largely saw the return of the band’s more uptempo, thrashier sound return after a long spell of mostly mid-tempo paced albums. I remember speculating at the time of its release if the Covid induced layover lit a fire under the band’s you know what, because there’s a renewed vigor and appetite for all things heavy and aggressive on the album as a whole. On “Glory Disappears” however, Franck and company wielded this energy differently, a straight to the emotional gut slice of power metal melodrama built on a hook so potent that they unleashed it thirty seconds into the song. The dual harmony laden guitar solo that nearly serves as a complete outro unto itself is some of Ihlenfeld and Loncaric’s most inspired work. One of those songs that any power metal band would kill to have in their arsenal.

“Garuda (Eater of Snakes)” (Plague of Rats, 2025)

Up now to the present day, where Brainstorm has released a monstrous, year end list contending caliber new album in Plague of Rats, their third legitimately very good to great album in a row. To say we’re in the midst of a late career renaissance by one of German power metal’s most enduring bands is an understatement, because the band is experiencing not only renewed creative inspiration, but watching it translate into their most commercially successful period as well. Not bad for a bunch of dudes who started in 1989 and resolutely stuck to their guns and musical passion for metal through waves and trends that came and went. Regarding “Garuda”, this is a knowing throwback to another song on this list in “Shiva’s Tears” in Indian spirituality and mythology, this time with the tasteful incorporation of Indian melodies via a sitar accompaniment. I love Franck’s choices in vocal melody design here, the delayed effect he employs on the chorus by waiting a half second on delivering “…Garuda!” adds a subtle bit of complexity to the timing there that just hits. I love that this far into their career, they’re now more open than ever to trying new things, such as the Eluveitie esque folk instrumentation that adorns “The Shepherd Girl” later on the album. They’ve covered such a wider breadth of styles on these past three albums that its hard not to consider also recommending them to newcomers as a point of entry to the band.

March 27, 2025 2025, Avantasia, Edguy, Power Metal, Tobias Sammet Post a Comment

Caught Somewhere In Time: Avantasia’s Here Be Dragons

As a self appointed historian on the career of one Tobias Sammet, I can honestly say that the cumulative reaction to Avantasia’s tenth(!) studio album, Here Be Dragons, matches the divisiveness that was achieved by 2006’s The Scarecrow (aka the rebirth of the project from a studio only situation to an ongoing touring concern). Honestly, in some ways it surpasses the furor around that album if only because the bulk of the tumult around it’s release was largely negative towards the single “Lost In Space”, while the reaction towards the rest of The Scarecrow and it’s companion EPs was fairly enthusiastic, glowing even (the title track and cuts such as “Promised Land” and “The Story Ain’t Over” are rightfully considered classics today). Conversely, the discussion around the new album centers entirely upon the album as a whole, with wildly differing opinions, and an array of talking points both positive and negative. This has all been further inflamed not only by Sammet on social media defending lead single “Creepshow”, the most decidedly Edguy sounding song ever to grace an Avantasia tracklist — but by his retaliatory lyrics towards vocal fans of his older power metal style on “Return to the Opera”, a bonus track that is ironically enough being lauded by nearly everyone everywhere as the best song on the album. Oi vey, lets unpack all this.

First off, my thoughts on the album itself are confusing even for me, because on one hand, I really do love a lot of these songs, and yet, I find myself frustrated with their lack of explosiveness in the guitar department and in the overwhelming presence of layered keyboard orchestrations. Lets start with the title track, because despite being the second track on the album, it does admittedly feel like the first actual Avantasia tune on the album (we’ll talk about “Creepshow” in a bit) with a guest vocalist duetting alongside Sammet (Geoff Tate in this case). The chorus here is magnificent, one of the best on the album, arguably one of the strongest in the band’s discography as a whole, but I find myself only perking up when I feel it about to strike again. With the exception of a singular riff progression that serves as a far ahead of time prechorus, the rest of the verses are weighed down with a string of lone chords that fill in the space behind Tate or Sammet in uninspiring fashion. Things pick up in the bridge midway through, with a brisk tempo and a combining of voices on a uplifting melody, but at the 5:56 mark we’re deposited once again into this meandering nothingness. Its just so damn frustrating to not give this awesome chorus a long runway to soar off from… it reminds me of the atmospheric nonsense that sat in the middle of “The Scarecrow” when there should’ve been a ripping, Europower guitar solo in it’s place. Despite it’s faults however, “Here Be Dragons” is quintessential Avantasia, a song I keep coming back to for its regality and dramatic pomp and splendor.

While the aforementioned title track might claim the album’s best chorus, the best guest vocalist pairing surprisingly winds up being Tommy Karevik on “The Witch”. Its not even that Sammet wrote a very Kamelot-ian or Seventh Wonder-ish tune here like he did for Roy Khan back in the day on “Twisted Mind”, its more that Karevik is a bit of a chameleon as a singer, finding a way to fit into any style or song structure and maximize his moment. Honestly, he probably doesn’t get enough credit for this, because I can’t recall ever hearing a bad guest spot from him ever (even on some of the Ayreon stuff where I didn’t particularly enjoy the songwriting). This is a crisp, confident, and incredibly addictive tune wisely chosen as a single that echoes shades of “Dying For An Angel”, and it was a shrewd decision to allow Karevik to handle the first verse on his own, thereby giving the song a very different feel from the rest of the album where Sammet is usually taking the lead on things. Similarly on “Bring on the Night”, ole’ Bob Catley kicks off this power ballad (what else with Catley?) with an immediate vocal melody lead-in on the intro, and while there’s a deliberately overproduced 80’s version of this tune as a bonus track, this original version has washes of mid-80s Magnum in spades, which is rather fitting in a way given that band’s ultimate curtain call earlier last year. Its one of the better Catley centric songs Tobias has penned, easily my favorite since the 2016 Song of the Year “Restless Heart and Obsidian Skies” off Ghostlights

Slightly less in my esteem but certainly strong songs in their own right are “The Moorlands at Twilight” with Michael Kiske (Ernie for you old school fans) making his triumphant return to the project, as well as “Phantasmagoria” with the warrior himself Ronnie Atkins. I enjoy both songs a great deal, particularly the latter where Atkins’ rough, jagged vocals are right in their element on a song that sits in that Hellfire Club-ish power metal meets hard rock pocket. Kiske’s song is a companion piece to “Wastelands” off The Wicked Symphony, with some uptempo Euro-power at work, except this time spliced in with some latter day Avantasia eccentricities to prevent it from being straight ahead power metal. And finally Adrienne Cowan gets a turn on an album after doing some stints as Avantasia’s backing vocalist on tour, and she sounds fantastic on “Avalon”, which thankfully deviates from Sammet’s propensity to relegate women guest vocalists in the past to power ballads. Cowan gets to utilize her throaty belting voice here, the kind she wielded so effortlessly on spectacular Seven Spires tunes such as “Succumb” and “In Sickness, In Health” (maybe Sammet got inspired after duetting with her on “Reach Out For the Light” in place of Kiske on tour). I think that “Against the Wind” is a decent song in it’s entirety (though H.E.A.T.’s Kenny Leckremo is lost as a guest vocal here), but it has the honor of having one of the best moments on the album, with Sammet addressing his critics for the first time on an Avantasia album directly, “If you don’t like what I do / then it’s not made for you”. Finally the Freddy Mercury/Queen tinged “Everybody’s Here Until the End” is a fine album closer, a semi power ballad with a deft chorus, although relegating Roy Khan to a mere spoken/sung passage in the middle seems like a waste of talent.

That leaves us album opener “Creepshow” and the decidedly metallic “Unleash the Kraken” as the final songs here to discuss, and they’re of particular interest in the sense that there are no guest vocalists on both tracks, just Sammet himself. So lets talk about the latter first, because I actually think its an awesome tune and reminds me a ton of something like “Under the Moon” from Hellfire Club, or given the balls to the wall nature of the chorus, “Nailed to the Wheel” from Mandrake, both songs from Edguy albums by the way if you didn’t catch that. I genuinely feel in listening to this tune that it could have fit into the tracklist of either of those albums, and that’s ironic given Sammet’s own insistence on not returning to his power metal roots. Then there’s the flashpoint song in all discussions about this album, “Creepshow”, which sounds like it could have been an Edguy b-side from the Space Police era. It is easily the most middling of all the songs on an otherwise strong Avantasia album. Repetitive, simplistic, and intended as such according to Sammet in its aim, as he explained: “It’s short and catchy, and it emphasizes a facet of my work that has taken a backseat in my music in recent years. It’s light-hearted and the opposite of melancholic. And it’s fresh, boisterous and unabashed – a straightforward kick-ass anthem.” He even admits to it sounding like something from the past, stating “…even though it may seem like a reminiscence of my earlier writing, I think we managed to turn the whole thing into a trademark Avantasia tune…“. Hmmm, I’m not sure how it sounds characteristically like Avantasia, given the lack of other voices — after all, even “Lost in Space” for all its simplified pop-rock sonics had Amanda Somerville adding her vocals into the mix.

So I get where fans are a little confused by this album and Sammet’s mixed messaging both from his running social media soapbox on Facebook and Instagram where he is often vocal about his chosen musical path and sticking to his guns (and real talk, I respect him for his stance at least, though I question his need to declare it all the time), and also from within the context of the album itself. Its not just those two songs sounding like old Edguy that are prompting this confusion either, its the reality that the intentional Metal Opera era throwback bonus track “Return to the Opera” is being declared by many fans as the album’s best song. I disagree… only slightly however, because this is a banger of an old school power metal cut, built on the same DNA that informed all those classic late 90s/early 2000s Edguy and Avantasia records that we all look back so fondly upon. The lyrics of this song are self-explanatory, a mea culpa to fans clamoring for the past and also a plea for them to shut up finally… and I’d be on Sammet’s side 100% if he weren’t so goddamned great at writing stuff like this. Seriously, I have replayed this bonus track over and over again just for the sheer joy it brings me, even though I realize its a bit a joke track. He has said in interviews recently (and even alludes to this within the lyrics of the song) that he enjoyed writing it, but if he had to write an entire album’s worth of songs just like it, it would be disheartening (or drive him to alcoholism given the “Betty Ford” references in the lyrics). I get that sentiment, but I’ll argue that the success in the ears of fans of “Return to the Opera” might work against his intentions in releasing it in the first place.

Thinking it all over, I find myself simultaneously thrilled by this album and frustrated with it. I love most of these songs for their melodies and some truly awesome guest vocal moments (Karevik is the MVP in this category), yet I wish it didn’t sound so pillowy soft in it’s production, and I wish some guests were utilized better such as Roy Khan. I think the heavily layered keyboards that adorn so much of this album end up stifling certain tunes that need a bit more space to breath and let the guitars or singular piano melodies rip (“Everybody’s Here Until the End” needs a bit more Meatloaf/Steinman sharpness and vigor for a start). I think the pendulum has swung too far into the direction of prog at times production wise, and there needs to be a little more Gamma Ray and a touch less Magnum in the overall approach during the mixing phase. And I’ll admit that Sammet’s dip back into older, both Metal Opera-ian and Edguy-ish styles on respective tracks has made me a little nostalgic. I long for more stuff like “Unleash the Kraken”, and really what that means is that I long for Edguy, something that’s not drenched in symphonics or theatrical drama like the past few Avantasia albums. It was a breath of fresh air, and I think many fans of both bands found themselves gratefully gulping it in and eagerly looking around for the next one. That its so brief is frustrating to some and bewildering to many. What exactly is Avantasia supposed to be… a Tobias Sammet solo vehicle, or a group project with a rotating cast of singers? He did well bringing in fresh voices to the mix this time in a substantive way, but maybe now its time to fully reimagine the sound of modern Avantasia into something else instead of repeating the formula of the past few albums.

March 5, 2025 2025, Blog related, reviews Post a Comment

Restless and Wild: 2025’s First Quarter Blitz

I have to admit to being slightly taken aback by just how strong the start to this year has been metal-wise. This is because normally, release calendars get off to a slow, lurching start in the first few wintry months of any year, and only really get frenetic around the springtime, which allows us lazier listeners to dilly dally for awhile in the wake of the post year-end best-of list publishing where we listen to a ton of old stuff or nothing at all. I consider myself lucky in that knowing a bunch of friends who are even more intense about their metal listening than I am yields a handful of best of lists worth delving into, which I’ve been doing diligently through most of these first few weeks. And to that point, normally the first article of the year is a mea culpa talking about all the stuff I’ve missed the year prior, but you know what — I can’t afford to that do this time around because there is so much genuinely exciting new stuff coming out that I owe it to myself to sort out my thoughts on all of it here. So here are some scattered thoughts on a plethora of new things and other odds and ends that have been top of mind recently:

Saor – Amidst the Ruins:

Having lapsed on release date awareness recently, I was happily surprised that Andy Marshall was rewarding my late December and early January constant spins of Forgotten Paths and Origins with a new Saor album. Going into this I had only expectations for the quality of the compositions, because there’s a standard that Marshall had set over the entire discography of the project that was largely characterized by thoughtfulness, depth, and a conveying of emotion. That latter dimension has been one that shifts, because I’d imagine that no one could argue against the idea that Origins (a year end listee in 2022) was strikingly more euphoric in tone than its immediate predecessor. Now while opinions are mixed about that change in tone, I personally loved it and wouldn’t have minded if he continued that trajectory. But credit to Marshall, he pivoted away from it a touch on Amidst the Ruins, which is indeed a darker, more earthen toned album in the vein of Forgotten Paths, though with the added spice of some smoky mysticism, as heard in the striking single “The Sylvan Embrace”. But not entirely, because on “Rebirth”, we get some of those clear eyed lead guitars combined with ringing bagpipes and it gives major Origins vibes. In re-listening to the album just now, I feel the takeaway here is that it’s a combination of moods from the past few records, a sort of career summary in a way, and that’s not a bad thing. I do love it, and though it lacks a transcendent moment such in the extended guitar solo of “Aurora”, its likely to stick in the listening rotation throughout the year.

The Halo Effect – March of the Unheard:

I feel like the general consensus about The Halo Effect’s first album has over the past three years gradually caught up to the opinion that I had of it upon its release, that it sounded far too much like Dark Tranquility for its own good. Sure there were elements of Jesper Stromblad’s signature touch on guitars and the songwriting was at times pretty solid, but Mikael Stanne’s position at the vocal helm was that double edged sword of him being a really fantastic screamer with incredible tone, and yet someone who has had years of developing a clean vocal melody style that is unmistakably recognizable. So recognizable in fact that it was hard to shake the Dark Tranquility vibes leaching into The Halo Effect’s music, particularly when it was largely a mix of scream/clean balancing acts within the songs, a trait that characterized so many of the recent albums of his main band. So on the sequel, they seem to have either heard the criticism and are consciously responding to it, or Jesper has seemingly decided to interject more of his signature guitarwork approach to the band’s sound, because there is a convincing aspect to March of the Unheard that is classic Gothenburg melodeath in terms of pure sound. For that reason alone, I enjoy this album a great deal when I’m actively listening to it, because its hitting those same taste buds that were awakened when I first heard classic In Flames and the rest of the Gothenburg ilk. But I will offer this criticism, that after weeks of listening to this consistently, I still have a hard time identifying most of these songs individually, as they all blur together in this modern melodeath mélange, and that’s been my criticism of Dark Tranquility’s newer albums as well. And I hate piling on Mr. Stanne, because I think he’s a great vocalist, but perhaps he needs guiderails for this project, such as a declarative rule on no clean singing, or no vocal melody driven choruses allowed? A little more Majesties’ Vast Reaches Unclaimed and less Atoma or Endtime Signals would really go a long way.

Majestica – Powertrain:

A fun one from a band led by one Tommy Johansson (ex-Sabaton/ReinXeed) who is in his power metal element here. I have a fond regard for anyone proudly flying the flag of classic power metal (the non-meme sort that is), and Tommy loudly declares that pride on an album that is a natural progression from their 2019 debut Above the Sky and sophomore x-mas concept album A Christmas Carol (if we’re counting that as a regular album I suppose). It also doubles as a tribute to power metal in subtle and not so subtle ways, the latter coming in the form of a unabashed salute to fellow Swedes in Hammerfall on “Megatrue”, with lyrics invoking that band’s album and song titles to amusing effect (well, to us power metal nerds), set to a suitably Hammerfall-ian marching song structure. I hear a little nod towards “Full Moon” ala Sonata Arctica on “No Pain, No Gain”, not only in the keyboards, but in the vocal patterning that does have hints of Tony Kakko. I hear Power Quest on “Victorius” with splashes of Stratovarius, and major Heavenly vibes on “Go Higher” — but alas, I trust that the band didn’t want us to only take away comparisons from this album. On “A Story In the Night”, they unleash a beast of a song that is unmistakably cut from the ReinXeed/Majestica songwriting mold, easily their finest tune to date and one to likely land on the songs of the year candidate list at least. Along with fellow Swede Johannes Skyblazer, Tommy has become one of the leading lights in a resurgence of unabashedly Europower oriented power metal, unafraid of being unfashionable and gimmick free. Its refreshing.

Dawn of Solace – Affliction Vortex:

Really impressed with the new Dawn of Solace, this being Tuomas Saukkonen’s other other band (that second ‘other’ is referring to Before the Dawn, who he brought back from the dead last year with a new singer onboard, that dude from The Voice of Finland reality show), and if that name is still not ringing a clear bell in your head, he’s the main man behind Wolfheart. So with this other band of his, it leans towards less aggression, and more of a focus on Finland’s ongoing love affair with melodic doom through a gothic filter. A two man lineup, Saukkonen’s always excellent harshes are paired against Mikko Heikkilä’s clean vocals, who is a bit of an acquired taste admittedly. He reminds me a lot of Tuomas Tuominen who gothic metal fans might remember as the vocalist on the first two The Man-Eating Tree albums and all those Fall of the Leafe records, sharing a similar tone and cadence in their deliveries. This is a moody, patience requiring affair, with songs that aren’t shy about gradual builds, slower tempos (that doom influence), and payoffs that aren’t hook based. It is a demanding listening experience in that regard, but I keep coming back to it for the depth and raw emotion they’ve mined here. I think if you’re a die-hard aggressive Wolfheart fan, this might be a fifty-fifty proposition, but if you like Finnish gothic metal this might be close enough to pique your interest.

The Night Flight Orchestra – Give Us The Moon:

I should also mention the new album from The Night Flight Orchestra, Give Us The Moon, which continues their locked into 1985 stylistic direction that they’d been splashing around in for the past two albums. I will say this, on one hand, there are some really solid songs here, “Like the Beating Of A Heart” is the band’s best single in ages and “Paloma” is a rather creative take on power balladry (deep pulls from Foreigner’s brand of AOR here) — but on the other hand, I feel like the band is treading familiar ground here that was already covered ad nauseum on the two Aeromantic albums that preceded this. There was a point where it seemed like the band was progressing their sound according to the timeline of the 80s, starting off with their debut album reflecting 1980 or 81, and each successive album moving along with the stylistic shifts in sound that actually occurred in that decade. Now I’m not so sure, maybe they just like this particular mid-80s aesthetic so much they’ve decided to nest here, but I do feel like their sound needs a shakeup. My vote would be to inject some late 80s glam/pop metal vibrancy into the mix on the next album, a little Whitesnake or Europe-ian over the top dramatic flair and some more virtuosic guitarwork. I can only hope anyway.

There were a handful of other releases that I’ll briefly comment on, starting with Master Sword’s Toying With Time being a really stellar listen, and if you heard the recent episode of the MSRcast, you’ll have heard us realizing during recording that it was the band’s final album, as they broke up immediately after its release, which does dampen the mood a bit. Give it a shot though because its a really unique blend of styles, a raspy, deep toned talented vocalist in Lily Hoy, and The Legend of Zelda as lyrical inspiration (a cousin to Fierce Deity in some ways). Italy’s Labyrinth also returned with their first album in four years, In the Vanishing Echoes of Goodbye, and it’s a solid effort that I enjoyed to a certain extent. I will concede that it didn’t have quite the punch of 2021’s Welcome to the Absurd Circus where they leaned more towards classic melodic power metal. Here I get more a progressive vibe, big on dense riff sequences and less on the soaring melodies leading the way, although Roberto Tiranti does go wild on a couple songs. I guess I’m still on the fence about my overall feelings on this album, and it very well might be a grower that hopefully sticks with me through the year.

Elsewhere, there was obviously the new Dream Theater album Parasomnia with Portnoy back in the fold, and while it was alright, I did find that “Bend the Clock” was the most interesting thing they’ve done in ages, a song genuinely brimming with some emotion and a above average vocal from James Labrie. I love the first minute and a half of that song where its such a Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree vibe that’s happening, with undertones of nostalgia and melancholy… ahhh, if only more of their stuff could be like this I’d be a fan of this band. I listened out of curiosity and didn’t regret it, but probably will only return to that song alone. And the new Dynazty album Game of Faces came out and damn if I can find anything remarkable about it, which makes me sad actually. I don’t know if its just a me problem or that the band has started to repeat themselves, but this all sounds like stuff I’ve heard before, just less catchy. I like Nils Molin quite a bit as a vocalist for this band (unlike in Amaranthe, my criticism of him there should be well documented by now) so this is a total drag for me, so to curb my sadness I’ll end my comments here.

I can’t say that I enjoyed much of Marko Hietala’s solo album Roses From the Deep, but I applaud him getting back out there after dabbling around the metal scene with some solo guest appearances (including a cracking one with Therion on the first Leviathan album in 2021). This has much more in common with Tarot than Nightwish of course, but its so all over the place stylistically that it fell victim to a classic solo album faux pas of not having a cohesive vision. It was more Balls to Picasso and less The Chemical Wedding so to speak. There’s a new Lacuna Coil album out called Sleepless Empire, and I think its solid for what it is, though its back to their more slick, polished direction as opposed to the surprisingly dark and heavy affair that made 2019’s Black Anima very compelling. Cristina Scabbia still sounds ageless to her credit, and they have a sound that works for them, and there are songs on here such as “In Nomine Patris” and “Never Dawn” that are incredibly strong despite the thick production gloss. I do think getting messier and darker with their sound is the way for them to lean, but maybe that’s not an opinion shared by their fans.

I’m still digging into the new Ebonheart, Arion, Kilmara (love that track Daniel Heiman guests on), and Prehistoria albums, as well as Udo’s guest loaded Balls To The Wall – Reloaded, and new The Ferrymen album. I’ll probably leave those to the podcast to talk about because they’ll be old news by the time I’m caught up. Lastly, I’ll mention that I caught my first show of the year this past Sunday at the small room of House of Blues Houston, for Swallow the Sun with Harakiri For the Sky and Ghost Bath and a darkwave opener called Snakes of Russia. Regarding the latter, with all due respect to the singular gentleman who is that artist, darkwave as a live experience is profoundly boring if you don’t have some kind of visual aid to accompany it. At a certain point, I looked around and noticed people staring at their phones or like myself, the floor. His music was fine, it all kinda sounded the same, but would be great background music for working on something, but someone needs to whisper to him about reconsidering it as a live proposition. Ghost Bath were alright, apparently I forgot everything about seeing them in a gig long past, but what struck me this time was their proclamation that they play “rock n’ roll about killing yourself”, and then proceeded to do a black metal era Tribulation imitation for their set. A friend asked after the show, “Are they ashamed of black metal?”. And that was a legit question that hung in the air.

Seeing Harakiri For the Sky was a longtime coming after becoming a fan of the band back in 2018 with Arson, and they did play “Fire, Walk With Me” from that album, but mostly focused on the new one which I’m not as into. The drummer was phenomenal, and of course Matthias Sollak was incredible on lead guitar, and while they aren’t the most engaging live band, they managed to translate what is an incredibly dense, layered sound into the live setting rather well. As for Swallow the Sun, this was maybe my seventh or eighth time seeing them live now, and it was just as excellent as any of them have been (2019 was special for seeing Juha Ravio for the first time since his live hiatus). Hearing the new songs from Shining that I was obsessed with last year was a joy to behold, and they sounded heavier and more bruising than on the record (for anyone who had issues with their production). Also attending the show were Seven Spires’ Adrienne Cowan and Jack Kosto, and I got to talk to both of them outside briefly before Swallow the Sun went on. Jack was in town working on new music with Adrienne, and she told me she was leaving for the Avantasia tour the next day. I’d met both of them before, in fact Adrienne has become a common sight at specific Houston metal gigs over the past few years, but it was still surreal to look to my left during the Swallow the Sun set and see both of them standing next to us, nodding their heads along.

And that catches us up on current metal releases and events, for the most part. Anything that’s not covered in this update will be discussed on the podcast. Hopefully we get a bit of a slowdown in noteworthy releases so I can focus on some other things worth talking about on the blog, but if not, I’ll be back with one of these catch up type updates again. I’m going to deliver a singularly focused discussion on the new Avantasia and Brainstorm albums next, because both of those are worthy of a deeper look just by virtue of their veteran standing and my unabashed love for both of them. I have many thoughts!

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