Van Helsing's Curse - Oculum Infernum: A Halloween Tale (2004)

Large-cast rock opera records have been quite the rage in metal for years now, popularized by acts like Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Ayreon and Avantasia just to name a handful. For the considerable repertoire of its constituents, Van Helsing's Curse seems to be one that was highly overlooked, the brainchild of Twisted Sister and Widowmaker frontman and American icon Dee Snider, to pay tribute to his love for Halloween and horror classics. A so-called 'soundtrack' to the holiday, metalized and populated with a roster that I hesitate to call a 'supergroup' beyond Dee himself, Al Pitrelli, and a couple unsung veterans like bassist Greg Smith who has performed with everyone from Alice Cooper and Vinnie Moore to Hellion and the Plasmatics. Much of the lineup here is instead comprised of ensemble musicians, with trombones, trumpets, french horns, strings and a slew of backing vocalists to further its operatic nature and narrative.

Speaking of the 'narrative', it's dictated by Snider himself, and one of the components of the album I found the most cheesy and imbalanced with the more swollen seriousness of the orchestration. To be frank, this sounds about as basic as a Trans-Siberian Orchestra album in terms of how uninspired and straightforward the guitars are, and how obvious the rest of the instrumentation plays out, only its got that wannabe John Carpenter feel to it that is often nigh indistinguishable from a lot of films that would bite off the Halloween score long ago (I think there's even a bonus track for a later edition of this which covers that very piece). That's not to say it doesn't hit some original notes, in particular the vocal arrangements and a few Al's guitar fills that you might not expect going in, but they're all washed out by the terribly boring use of plodding guitar mutes or chord progressions that require literally no effort except plugging in a guitar. The production of the record is expansive, often giving it the feel as if its being bounced off the ceiling of some epic cathedral, but most of my issues came with the fact that it's an extremely consonant, uplifting, never appreciably dark or creepy, and just how many times do I need to hear re-interpretations of the Halloween tune or the opera staple "Carmin Burana"? Oculum Infernum just does not go far enough into the thematic territory it so wishes to capitulate towards, and settles for far too many generic thrills.

It gets a little more exciting when you get Al jamming in the bridges of pieces like "The Child", but even then it sounds awfully familiar...like you've heard some other rock opera bands he plays with. Some of the horns blare out in an appreciably moody fashion, as in the swooning "Tortured Soul". The Van Helsing family theme throughout is flimsy at best, a kind of generic 'good vs' evil' scheme, pitting off the monster hunters with vampires and other beings reduced to 'darkness'. A whole lot of the lyrics are presented in Latin to adhere to the album's operatic nature and the ancient struggle it presumes to represent. And, sadly, the most evil sounding part of the whole affair is the "Black Sabbath" cover near the end, threaded with lots of little proggy and symphonic touches, and operatic vocals that don't exactly expand upon its inherent darkness, but still manage to transform the piece as most worthwhile cover do. Apart from the corny voices Dee is doing, in true horror-circus fashion, I actually think most of the instruments sound pretty clear and full, but apart from an occasional bass groove or pick-up in the drumming, some of them don't have much to do.

Now, I like Dee Snider, not only as a singer but as an outstanding human being. I still spin a lot of Twisted Sister stuff and I like a few tunes from his other projects. But this one was clearly a miss, not of gargantuan proportions, but the effort in putting it together just doesn't justify the results on the disc itself. You could take almost any random Therion record from the mid-90s or beyond and get a more effective experience in the same vein, and those can often feel genuinely gloomy and evil, where Oculum Infernum struggles. Heck, Music from 'The Elder' crushes this. I can't say it's a great soundtrack for Halloween when there are just so many others available, either quality horror scores, goofy dance songs, or King Diamond and Alice Cooper albums you could rock out to. So who is this for? I guess if you're a HUGE fan of Dead Winter De...I mean Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and you want a fractionally more 'dark' version of the same, or perhaps TSO to swap holidays, then this might scratch your itch. I just found the whole thing too obvious and uninteresting, and thus I'm not too shocked that the project had such a brief shelf life.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10]

http://www.vanhelsingscurse.com/site/

Equilibrium - Rekreatur (2010)

Any dork with his head far beyond the borders of Eberron, Mordor and the Forgotten Realms will probably understand me when I say that I spent a good 10 minutes musing over whether the creature on the cover of this record was more of 'dragonne' or 'peryton' stock, and I mention this for a reason: this is epic, charging metal that is mostly going to appeal to fans of epic fantasy, folklore, role playing games (console, computer, tabletop, or...live action ewwww). That is hardly rocking the boat in Equilibrium's case, because this German band are known for their attraction to synth-dominated anthems of battle. If you don't appreciate this variety of escapism, then this might be the sort of album you want to stay far, far away from, though it certainly has numerous other qualities.

The band knows how to make the listener feel like he's about to rush on foot or horseback down the nearest hill towards his enemies, and this is manifested through the band's galloping, melodic death metal thickly glossed in keyboard herald-horns, but they often go for what feels like a cheap, familiar glory. However, the complexity of the guitar work, the growling vocals and the never ending streams of synthesizer dress the overarching chord patterns in just enough to freshen it with a pinch of compulsion. The lyrics and titles are once again in German, and to this I tip my helm with some measure of respect, since the band's popularity is long past the point at which they'd start converting to English if they were hell bent merely on claiming the epic folk/battle metal crown from other, lesser acts. However, in ANY language, a song titled "Fahrtwind" is about as necessary as a Jar Jar Binks, even when it's not a joke...

If you enjoyed the band's last effort Sagas, you can jump right in here, because it feels rather on the level with that. If anything, tracks like "Der Ewige Sieg" show an increased devotion to the use of more progressive influence in the guitars and keys, though this is not really anything new for melodic death metal. So many of the songs exhibit the same majestic, charging atmosphere that it can be difficult to pick them out, but I really enjoyed the barbaric bombast of "Verbrannte Erde" which traveled a slower route, and the hyper melodic "Der Wassermann" which would have had me clutching my esophagus in disgust if not for being so damned flowing and catchy. Both of the longer track, "Aus Ferner Zeit" and "Kurzes Epos" both contain enough dynamic alteration within their parameters that shouldn't be too put out listening through them, if you don't mind a ton of gang choir vocals or silly goose female vocals that often follow the melodies.

Rekreatur did not have a major impact on me, and I'd say I preferred the last album Sagas to this, and perhaps even the debut. By this time, though, if you haven't already written off the band as simply hollow, dork metal fare, or if you worship the sounds of Bal-Sagoth, Turisas and Finntroll, then you probably represent the type of bloke that will appreciate this, even if just for a few frothing mugs and laughs around the war gaming table Friday night.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.equilibrium-metal.net/

Yggdrasil - Kvällningsvindar över Nordrönt Land (2007)

It seems to me Sweden's Yggdrasil is almost the perfect band for twilight idylls and festivals of the Elven folk, dancing their pagan lilts through the cold, rich woodlands of the seasons. I mean no insult by this whatsoever, for I refer to the Elves of Norse legend, of primal grace and forgotten, mythic beauty. No, this is not faerie metal in the negative sense that I generally loathe upon, but a real evocation of folklore. Kvällningsvindar över Nordrönt Land is the band's debut, with material culled from their two previous demos and re-recorded. It's a good thing they decided to honor these tracks and breathe them new life, because there is no reason songs of this quality should not have reached a larger audience.

Like their newer effort Vedergällning, this album is long on atmosphere, but where many pagan/folk metal bands clash at the crossroads of archaic instrumentation and black metal aggression, Yggdrasil makes it sound like the two were always unified, as they can flawlessly transition through moments of melodic, ripping guitars, violins and synthesizer swells, with a fiddle here, or mouth-harp twanging off there. The vocals are clean and forward, but they intone like dark bells hung from the trees of this ancient landscape. About the only thing I did not find necessary on the album were the female vocals or the 'shrieking' vocals, but these are few and far between and greatly outnumbered by the finer moments.

An hour of atavistic relaxation commences with "I Nordens Rike", from the 2003 demo of the same name, and its ambient sounds of sky mesh seamlessly into the developing guitar melodies before the chords crash forward into a lead like a thousand autumn leaves exploding as a steady breeze strikes the tree. The only issue here is the screaming vocals just before the 6:00 mark, which serve to do little else than annoy, sticking out like a sore thumb in an otherwise great track. "Kvällning Över Trolska landskap" transforms beautiful acoustics and a sad violin line into a thundering blitz of black momentum, though the real star is the following melody. "Frid" is a sullen, slower folk metal piece, and the 11 minute "Gryningstid" morphs from percussive guitar rhythms to glistening streams of melody, an interesting and fairly original style. "Nattens Vandare" once again uses muted with a percussive feel, but this is more of an Amorphis feel with some violins. Love the melodies in this track.

"I Nattens Timma" moves at a slow, drawling doom, as shining melodies cling to the broiling sequence of chords, and the vocals soar. "Vinter" is much the same pace, but with less of an upper end to the notes, and a little more of the gruffer vocals. Good acoustics, good mouth-harp, but the female vocals feel a little mediocre (though subtle). "Nordmark" is a blitzkrieg at first, of rather average pagan black metal, and the female vox later in the track are half tolerable. Which leaves the "Elfdance", or "Älvadansen", to finish out the record...with more female folk vocals, this time covering almost the entire track. In the beginning, they are restrained and catchy, but when Michelle Maass starts screaming later on, results may vary.

Kvällningsvindar över Nordrönt Land is, for the most part, a good album, but there are points at which it starts to unravel (largely through the female vox) and feel like an effort from one of the great many other, mediocre folk metal bands Europe is spewing like a geyser of ex-goths. The stronger tracks here have all the dense atmospheres and lush idylls of the following album Vedergällning, which is superior to this. But the debut sounds quite somber and romantic in an ancient forest fashion, and it's nice to have the demo material made 'official' rather than left to wallow in the dusk.

Highlights: I Nordens Rike, Frid, Gryningstid, I Nattens Timma

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.yggdrasil-sweden.com/

Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr (2005)

The 21st century has brought us a great many artists who walk the margins of multiple styles, without ever committing fully to one or the other. Equilibrium is one such artist, and their hybrid of death metal, symphonic and Viking elements has placed them well upon the map, with an appeal to fans of peers like Ensiferium, Thyfing, Finntroll, and Turisas. Like these other bands, I can't help but feel Bal-Sagoth was an influence with their unusual, goofy keyboard epics. Upon Turis Fratyr, the keyboard is the central element. The guitars churn and chug as needed, and sound quite thick and powerful, but the orchestration of the music is what places the writing just far enough into the memory. This was a pretty big debut album, and while it's successor Sagas is mildly superior, there are a number of tracks here I enjoyed, and a few that lay forgotten.

The band likes to perform a lot of glorious, charging rhythms, and while these can be fun and create the desired effect, often the synth lines and subcurrent riffing feels just too generic for its own good. Helge Stang can grunt or snarl, fusing a medium between the two genres which have birthed this band's sound (three if you count power metal, for which an argument could be made). The guitars and synthesizers frolic through a lot of bouncy, happy rhythms that would do any Finntroll or Korpiklaani proud, though the lyrical theme is pretty much pure Norse myth-history.

The title track is a brief, ambient intro that leads into "Wingthor's Hammer", which is a little sampling of what lies in store for the next hour of listening. It's flighty and silly sounding, but also kind of cool if you just don't bite too deeply into it. The verse guitars chug along below a slew of atmosphere, as Stang alters his vocals in an almost conversational pattern. "Unter Der Eiche" starts with some nice synths, and then another pretty glorious, if unmemorable charging gallop, before biting off the melody from the Biblical hymn "We Three Kings". "Der Sturm" builds a good momentum, though its core riff is once again fueled by a very generic pattern of notes that is easily eclipsed by anything else the band swerves into at any point in the song. "Widars Hallen" has a nice flute melody which almost feels like a sea shanty, and up to this point it may have been the most memorable track on the album, perfect for taking your girlfriend to the Renaissance Faire after watching the Peter Jackson Tolkien trilogy. "Met" is one of the most identifiable tracks on the album, sounding very much like Finntroll...almost too much. Like if you told me this was a missing track from Jakten's Tid, I might believe you, aside from a slight hint in the German lyrics.

"Heimdall's Ruf" is a bombastic, atmospheric intro the further frolicking synths of "Die Prophezeiung", which is a solid track with some nice melodic death guitar lines packed in. "Nordheim" becomes fairly fun, the synthwork is again delightful and playful like kids playing Hobbits vs. Mordor or a re-enactment of Die Nibelung at the park. I do like the way the chords function below the synth at the 2:00 point. "Im Fackelschein" features about two minutes of lush, acoustic calm, before the might of "Toten Heldensagen", which is the longest track on the album, and one of the best. I wasn't sure I'd be able to stomach 9+ minutes of Equilibrium's musings, but this has a more energetic, serious tone than most of the other songs and makes for a firm showcase of the band's potential (and it's up to the level of most of the tracks on Sagas). "Wald der Freiheit" ends the original album with another lush landscape of synth, but the bonus track "Shingo Murata" is another soaring epic which recalls Bal-Sagoth and Finntroll.

It was rather inevitable that this brand of shallower, orchestrated epic metal was going to procreate as the medium has once again grown in popularity around the world, but at least we've got some bands giving it their best. Equilibrium are no geniuses, but if you can shut off your mind for an hour then you'll find enough meat here to marinate with your delusions of historic grandeur and battle. Again, Sagas is a better representation of the band, but Turis Fratyr has a share of quality moments amidst the rather middling cavalry breaks.

Highlights: Widars Hallen, Met, Toten Heldensagen

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.equilibrium-metal.de/

Ex Deo - Romulus (2009)

Ex Deo is essentially a side project of Kataklysm; and refreshing at that, since the Canadian veterans have been sagging on the past few albums of that other entity. Romulus is a concept album forged in the fires of Roman myth, folklore and history, and one of the better metal works to have yet mined the subject. Stylistically there is little in common with Kataklysm aside from the simpler riffing, but Romulus is a focused effort which succeeds more often than not.

The use of keyboards to create an historic atmosphere is not quite the novel concept, but here a form of 'epic death metal' has been created which suits the conceptual material. Big riffs and big tones glaring from the synths, like the midday sun off the tips of Imperial spears as the legions march toward their next conquest. The title track leads off the album, an immersive and primitive bludgeon that introduces the listener immediately to just how this album is going to play out. I personally enjoy the martial, orchestral breakdown at the 3:20 mark. "Storm the Gates of Alesia" saunters forth with a driving, melodic riff under a sparsely tolled bell, as the chugging verse explodes with its dual vocals you know you're in worthy war metal territory. "Cry Havoc" rocks hard in the verse, subtle synth textures weaving a glorious gravitas. "In Her Dark Embrace" is laden in doomish melodies, the sorrow of countless battlefields on an eternal road to glory. Other strong points include "Blood, Courage and the Gods that Walk the Earth" for its melancholic death and doom, and the flowing "Surrender the Sun" which has grown into my favorite track on the album.

The album sounds sufficiently bombastic, and the members of Kataklysm have more than enough talent to handle these simpler compositions. Maurizio Iacono combines death and black vocals quite naturally to create a legion-like feel to the lyrics. Barks of anguish, guttural grunts and battlefield cries mesh well over the endless march of the rhythm section. Lead melodies are sparse and used completely in context. There are a few guest spots on the album, including Karl Sanders on guitar ("The Final War") and Nergal on vocals ("Storm the Gates..."), but you barely notice. Romulus isn't necessarily a great album, but it's solid enough that it should appeal to fans of all manner of 'epic' sounding metal. The subject matter may differ from Amon Amarth, Thyrfing or Turisas, but the effect is largely the same, a celebration of European history and folklore with some hard hitting metal accompaniment. Ex Deo is fun for a few listens, and a project I hope these gentlemen return to.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/exdeo

Bal-Sagoth - Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule (1996)

Bal-Sagoth are proof positive that if you're going to go out on a limb and do something ridiculous, do it right. Go all fucking out. To achieve this end they have evolved away from the more purely black/death influenced sound of their debut A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria into an epic, symphonic fantasy metal style alternating between snarling vocals and melodic black riffs to pompous narration and charging power. Add to this potent mix the fantastic lyrical vomit of 'Lord Byron', which is essentially an absurd amalgam of H.P. Lovecraft's Mythos, Robert E. Howard's barbaric fantasy, and many other archaic fantasy tropes. The band is also characterized by their use of humorously excessive song titles.

Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Viled Throne of Ultima Thule is not the best of Bal-Sagoth's forays into the epic and obscure, but it is the match which sparked off the inferno to come. It remains enjoyable to this day and there is a particular timelessness to this band's style: they are always worth a laugh. Several of my gaming friends and I use them as the go-to for a night of drunken dork debauchery. As par for the course, the album begins with a symphonic synthesizer prologue, "Black Dragons Soar Above the Mountain of Shadows", a pompous track all on its own which lets you know you're in for a hybrid of carousel music and a Dungeons & Dragons campaign gone horribly wrong (or horribly right, if you're on the level). "To Dethrone the Witch-Queen of Mytos K'unn (The Legend of the Battle of Blackhelm Vale)" bursts forth with some winding symphonic black metal riffs, dispersed by a plodding thrash riff saturated in Byron's manly narration. Like the song titles, the lyrics themselves are excessive to a fault, and most are narrative rather than verse.

Emboldened by their victories and the expansion of their queen's dark dominion, the hordes of Mytos K'unn began the incursion into the lands of the Northern Tribes, beginning with the grim and brooding territories south of the Snow Kingdoms... the rugged homelands of the warlike clans which had been recently united into a strong realm by the powerful warrior-king Caylen-Tor, a man known to his allies and enemies alike as the Wolf of the North.

Who are these fucking people? The album continues with the windy mystique and fluttering keyboards of "As the Vortex Illumines the Crystalline Walls of Kor-Avul-Thaa", which features a great and familiar sounding march/bridge. The title track opens with a chugging gait, shortly replaced by lavish synth as Byron dictates 'The Final Part of Voryn Helmsmiter's Journey to the Ice Realm'. "Journey to the Isle of Mists (Over the Moonless Depths of Night-Dark Seas)" is another sweeping, glorious instrumental with some amazing synthwork. Jonny Maudling is a true talent on the piano/keys and if he hasn't already starting scoring films, well isn't it about time? "The Splendour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire" is the first of a multi-part saga which will continue on later albums, a rousing war metal piece featuring the barbarian snarling and epic carousel motif to its fullest.

Assassins stalk the nighted halls of my palace... poisoned blades and chalices surround me.
I thirsted for a balm, but my thirst was slaked by an envenomed draught.
My swordarm shackled by tendrils of sloth... enthralled by the chasmed gloom...
Borne upon wings of labyrinthine dread... I awaken!
I shall seek the counsel of the sorcerer, keeper of the ancient scrolls of wisdom, and the Crystals of Power...

The rest of the tracks basically follow suit, but I'm not sure I have it within me to continue battering you over the head with this wall of text. "In the Raven-Haunted Forests of Darkenhold, Where Shadows Reign and the Hues of Sunlight Never Dance" is one of my favorite tracks on the album, and the morose keys of the closer "At the Altar of the Dreaming Gods" are likewise lush and delicious.

Strangely, it's the sort of album towards which my appreciation has only grown. My first response to this band, I'll admit, was that they were ridiculous, overhyped and stupid. But then it struck me...my criticism was largely bourne of my own self-serving seriousness, which prevented any true appreciation for the masterful irony this band had created in a stagnant metal economy. It's a hilarious album which also serves you a super sized portion of quality symphonic metal. If I were to once again review this in...say...5-10 years, the score may grow even higher. It's one of those types of records, so neglect this at your own risk!

Verdict: Win [8.75/10] (what carnage has thou wrought?)

http://www.bal-sagoth.co.uk/

Stormlord - Mare Nostrum (2008)

Stormlord have always stuck out as a sort of sore thumb in the Italian metal scene, delightful but often painful to suck on. Their sound incorporates black, death, gothic and epic power metal, but efficiently enough that you'd never notice. Terms like 'epic blackened metal' and 'black power metal' are often bandied about to describe this but really, who cares, because this is yet another group of guys who have upped their ante in 2008 to produce the greatest work of their career.

For some reason I always passed on their previous albums, but I've enjoyed Mare Nostrum so much that I've gone back to their earlier work and found that some of it is pretty good. Just not at this level. This is a beautiful album, seamlessly integrating elements like symphonic keyboards and folksy guitars with epic, thrashing guitars and blast beats. The title track is a great entrance to the album, but "Neon Karma" is simply stunning, one of my favorite individual tunes this year. Extremely catchy melodies and riffs grace the verse and chorus, and then there is this amazing bridge with gothic vocals which remind me of Dan Swano clean vox, extremely memorable. I must have pressed repeat a dozen or so times when I first came across this track. So good. I even love some of the lyrics.

Staring at the clouds where laser angels fly
Future looks so bright
Gaze into a moon whose circuits light the night
Gleaming through the rain
We celebrate our end

After this, the rest of the album almost pales, despite the fact it is still high quality. "Legacy of the Snake" has a cool Middle Eastern black metal vibe to it. "The Castaway" has great acoustic features to it and sweeping clean vocals. "And the Wind Shall Scream My Name" is a glorious track, and the album closes with the epic namesake track "Stormlord".

The mix is top notch, you can hear everything quite well. The snarls and growls of Cristiano Borchi are reminiscent mildly of Dani Filth, but they sound great here, as do the clean vocals courtesy of guitarist/synth player Giampaolo Caprino. The more I listen, the more I love this, and give it a huge recommendation to fans of epic genre-bending metal, from the folkish side to the symphonic black metal. Really, you need to hear this, an Italian masterpiece.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (come witness our triumph)

http://www.stormlord.net/new/index.html

Martiria - Time of Truth (2008)

And here is yet another new Italian metal album, the third from power metal lite act Martiria. It's yet another band making use of the synth as a central instrument, yet in this case the guitars actually carry a lot of the tunes, riffing away. The band is listed as singing about 'Christianity' on Metal Archives, and there is a song called "God Knows", but this is never really in excess, most of their lyrics revolve around historical themes.

Since it's the Time for Truth, truth be told, the band is pretty mellow. There isn't a lot of excitement on this record, and that's a shame, I think with a few more raging tracks this would have turned out better. Most of the songs maintain the same energy level, which is to provide lite fare with a lot of melody. If you enjoy laid back power/epic metal, moody but 'pretty', and laden in kind of cheesy synthesizers, this might be for you. I wouldn't qualify this as a good band, but they are certainly no worse than a lot of their peers. I do think the fact they label themselves 'epic' metal is a slight misnomer, you need some more balls to wear that title IMHO.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10]

http://www.martiria.com/