Dark Tranquillity - Fiction (2007)

This is one of those few albums that manage to sneak up on you, draw you in, and get stuck in your car's CD player for months on end. The first track, "Nothing To No One", starts innocently enough but about half a minute into it the track changes direction and from that point on your stuck. Not until the last note of "The Mundane and the Magic" do you even consider lowering your volume to pick up the kids from school, driving by a funeral at a church, or even passing a cop at three in the morning.

Dark Tranquillity have always released very, very good albums but not until Fiction have they hit their mark. Their past two efforts, Character (2005) and Damage Done (2002), added more of their original death metal roots to their music but each album never had much punch to it. There were definitely some good tracks on them but also a good amount of filler songs. Fiction (2007) fixes this. Whether it be "The Lesser Faith", "Blind Heart", or "Icipher" with their explosive choruses, or even "Nothing To No One", "Empty Me", or "Focus Shift" with it's heavy punch, this album doesn't stop. Where this album really shines though are it's four more oddball songs. "Inside The Particle Storm" is one of those tracks where the title explains the exact feeling of it. With a couple simple guitar chords that seeminglessly blend right into an huge sound and amplified into your ears, it does the trick. "Misery Crown" and "The Mundane And The Magic" highlight Mikael Stanne's clean vocals, the former even being complimented by with Threate Of Tragedy's female vocalist, Nell Sigland.

Now, "Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)"? That track has everything a melodic death metal fan will want from a band. Honestly, if someone made top 15 list of melodeath songs, and this wasn't on there I'd be pissed. An awe inspiring keyboard intro, to some heavy guitar chords, to an explosive chorus... ugh, just go listen to it already.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (if I could merge the mundane and the magic)

www.darktranquillity.com

Magica - Wolves & Witches (2008)

It's no secret that I despise a great deal of the female fronted metal band explosion of past decade, the endless parade of shallow Nightwish clones is both trendy and tasteless. Now, to preemptively silence unfounded cries of 'sexism' , this has NOTHING to do with some belief that female vocals and metal do not go well together. In fact, in many cases, they go together extremely well. I'd love to hear a good female vocalist just as much as any good male vocalist. But it seems after the success of a few bands (Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, etc), thousands more have suddenly sprouted up with the hack female vocals, which might be 'in key', but simply cannot do the supporting music justice (or vice versa). Magica is such a band, and they're not exactly newcomers.

Wolves & Witches (give me a break) is the 4th album from these Romanians, and they seem pre-occupied with romantic horror/fantasy novels or crappy fashionista vampire films like Underworld or Blood & Chocolate which have all the substance of a strip mall manicure. It's possible the entire album is a concept based around a particular novel, film or original story, but I concede that my knowledge of the romance/horror genre is lacking. The music here consists of some straightforward melodic/power metal smothered in Ana's 'angelic' voice, which is sadly very monotone and lacks much expression and power. Frankly, it's fucking annoying, not for the accent, but for the needless layering and the fact that it sounds so separate from the music. She doesn't have the operatic hooks of a Tarja Turunen, but she meanders along with the same dreadful pitch. The lyrics seem to be a smorgasboard of other previous fantasy power metal stereotype lines with a gothic/vampire/werewolf theme, they come across completely goofy and I actually found myself laughing out loud numerous times, take a listen to "Just for Two Coins" for example.

The riffs might not be all that bad under a different set of vocals, but they're not very good of their own accord. These guys can play their instruments. They can shred. But what develops is a very light and feathery, average melodic European power metal. "Chitaroptera", an instrumental, is the most tolerable track I heard here. Actually, it's not just tolerable, it's decent.
But try as I might, I cannot find another silver lining on this album. This is the fairy bubblegum pop metal I can't recommend to anyone outside of people who read Laurell K. Hamilton novels or went to see that movie Twilight and then actually obsessed about how hot those guys were afterwards.

Stick a silver fork in me. I am done.

Verdict: Fail [3/10] (listen to Darkthrone, you can thank me later)

http://www.magicaband.com/magicanetscape.html

Burning Point - Empyre (2009)

This is the fourth album from this Finnish power metal band, and they've got a very distinct, melodic sound. I've never been able to get into any of their previous material, and I'm not feeling this either.

The album certainly sounds great. It's crystalline and you can hear each instrument wonderfully. When the album gets heavier, as on "Face the Truth" which has a very Judas Priest/Primal Fear vibe, I even started to enjoy it. Unfortunately, there are just too many mediocre tracks here, like a few bluesy rock ballad types which I frankly wanted to skip. The band clearly has a hard rock/NWOBHM influence, which may not appeal to many of the melodic or power metal fans of the day. I personally thought this was a cool touch, just wish there were better songs written around it.

They do possess a powerful production with a lot of glorious atmosphere to it, and as I said earlier, they have a crystal tone. Pete Ahonen's vocals are decent if not impressive. His voice isn't so much the problem, it has some character to it, I just didn't find many of his chorus parts catchy. These guys have a cross history and have shared members with other Finnish bands like Ghost Machinery, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, National Napalm Syndicate and Kalmah. I found the album pretty average with very few standout moments; sadly not enough that I will want to return to it.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/burningpointband

Clairvoyants - Word to the Wise (2009)

This is the evolution of an Iron Maiden cover band, and you can hear the heavy influence in the vocals and riffs (and obviously the band name), but regardless these Italians have whipped up a pretty good debut album of originals. Melodic power metal with a very classic appeal, also this is a guitar band, you won't hear orchestration on this.

The strength of the album lies in its melodic rockers, like the first track "Journey Through the Stars", an uplifting and upbeat song fueled by glistening melodic guitars over central NWOBHM influenced riffs. The guitars keep it simple but they select their chords well, the bass is really quite good and audible here in the mix too. Some of the other great tunes here include "The Lone" and "Sheer Hate". The band does have a lot of ballad-like fare, and I didn't enjoy it as much. For instance, the piano & vocal track "Closure", while peaceful, was a little boring. The album is closed by a cover of "Hallowed be Thy Name", which isn't bad.

I doubt Clairvoyants are going to create a large wave in the power/classic metal scene, but to their credit they deliver a well-mixed, slick sounding album with some good melodies and very obvious talent. This is a good album and I can definitely appreciate the bands like this that stick to their guitars rather than slathering everything in keyboards all the time. Italy has always had a strong scene of bands who play classic speed & power metal with no shame, and when it works, as it does on this debut, it's a pleasure to hear.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.theclairvoyants.com/