Arryan Path Terra Incognita
by Jorden Rex
Staff Writer
Let’s get this out of the way first: Arryan Path is not a racist band. From the press release heralding the coming of “Terra Incognita” – “Hoping to clear the controversy surrounding the band’s name once and for all, first and foremost PITCH BLACK RECORDS has a zero tolerance on racism and is very firm on NOT collaborating with anyone lacking respect for different races and ethnicities. “Arryan” (double ‘r’) is simply a type of flower and has NOTHING to do with “Aryan” and its associations with Nazism.” Also note that the word ‘Aryan’ (one ‘r’) refers to an Indo-European language family, and has nothing to do with ethnicity, despite what the Aryan Nation would have you believe. Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s talk Power Metal!
Hailing from Cyprus (they’re called Cypriots, apparently), Arryan Path have just released their second album, after a six year hiatus. Terra Incognita consists of ten songs that are clearly very influenced by the German Power Metal scene, as it bears a strong resemblance to works by Helloween (especially the chorus in “The Blood Remains on the Believer” – it could have been taken straight from “Keeper of the Seven Keys”) and HammerFall. They even went so far as to record and mix at Varanis Studios in Germany.
The album opens with the longest and most epic track, “Cassiopeia.” The opening vocal chants sound like they have been taken straight from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, which is not that surprising after one looks down the track listing and sees that the 9th song is titled “Minas Tirith.” Solos in “Cassiopeia” don’t come until about 7 minutes into the song. While they are not mind-blowing, they do fit the song well. Most of the song, and most of the album for that matter, seem to be a vehicle for vocalist Nicholas Leptos more than anything. There are few times when he is not singing. He is a good singer, and hits everything the way he should, but it would have been nice to hear some more opportunities for the other instruments to shine.
The title track of “Terra Incognita” is one of two stand-out songs on the album. It begins with a Middle-Eastern wind instrument playing a refrain that gets played after every chorus. Leptos also employs a Mid-Eastern technique to make his voice oscillate quickly on the last word of each chorus as well; like Cheb Mami in his duet with Sting, “Desert Rose.” The other unique song is “Ishtar.” This song also has a very Mid-Eastern feel to it, but it is conveyed this time with stringed instruments instead of winds and vocals.
All in all, it is a good Power Metal album executed with competence and talent, but it is not great. There is not enough soloing, and too much singing. The drums are simply there, doing a fine job but not doing anything impressive, and there is not nearly enough double lead guitar work. The choruses, by and large, are appropriately epic, but the rest of the music needs to step up and be just as majestic. This is, after all, Power Metal; epic is what we’re after and simply being adequate is not good enough.
Genre: Power Metal
Band Line-up:
Nicholas Leptos – Vocals
Socrates – Guitars
Geroge Kallis – Keyboards
Stefan Dittrich – Drums
Vagelis Maranis – Guitars & Guest Vocals
Track Listing:
1. Cassiopeia
2. Molon Lave
3. Terra Incognita
4. Open Season
5. Ishtar
6. The Blood Remains on the Believer
7. Elegy
8. Angel With No Destination
9. Minas Tirith
10. The Mind
Label: Pitch Black Records
Web: www.myspace.com/arryanpath
Hardrock Haven rating: 5/10