Eagleheart | Dreamtherapy

by Joe Mis
Staff Writer –

If its pure power metal you want, look no further than the upcoming release from the Czech band Eagleheart entitled Dreamtherapy. This hard rocking quintet has been around since 2003 and their veteran status clearly shows on this tight and powerful album.

Founded b guitarist Michal Kůs, the core of the band (Kůs, bassist Jiří Fiala, drummer Zdeněk Vémola, and singer Vojta Šimoník) was solidified by the time they recorded their first EP, Black Sun, in 2005. Their Helloween and Stratovarius influenced sound helped the band build a loyal following and led to the release of their first full length album, Moment Of Life, in early 2008. Eagleheart toured in support of a number of well-known acts, and in 2009 began work on Dreamtherapy, enlisting the help of producer-guitarist-singer Roland Grapow (Masterplan, ex-Helloween). The band also enlisted second guitarist Michal Jankuliak and in 2010 they hit the studio.

Dreamtherapy is a fine power metal release and a great example of the genre – nicely proving that Eagleheart truly deserve the praise they have received. The music is intense and energetic, fronted by the raspy voice of Vojta Šimoník who at times sounds like Blaze Bayley or Pretty Maids’ Ronnie Atkins. His voice is crisp and clear, very well suited to the power metal style. The twin guitars of the Michals (Kůs and Jankuliak) are excellent whether laying down big hooky rhythms or subtle and soaring leads. The rhythms of drummer Zdeněk Vémola and bassist Jiří Fiala are equally solid and their contributions are not small. Eagleheart’s true strength is the teamwork and unity displayed in their tight and veteran sounding performances. The band hits all of the power metal targets – everything from somewhat dark and martial lyrics to massive tempo shifts. The fine contributions (both production and performance) of Roland Grapnow only serve to make a solid effort even stronger.

The quick and almost orchestral keyboard opener “Insomnia” flows right into the first real track, “Shades Of Nothing.” Great raspy vocals, intense guitars and manic drumming set the bar very high for the balance of the album, and Eagleheart delivers. “Taste My Pain” is an aggressive and well-structured song with some interesting musical layering and some pushed-to-the-edge vocals and a great lead break. “Lost In The Dead End” has a brighter epic tone and features some great melodic hooks, a slick bass / drum line and an almost sing-along chorus. Neat harmony vocals open “Creator Of Time” and the band brings in a hint of prog-metal lightness while maintaining a brutal pounding rhythm line.

“Nothing Remains” is a slower cut, almost Amorphis-like at the opening and sort of Metallica-ish as the song progresses. It seems to pull the band a bit out its vocal comfort zone, but the acoustic guitar work and excellent bass line make up for it. “Dreamtherapy” brings the power back up and is quite rightly the title track. The band pulls out all the stops here and everything about this track is spot on. “Burned By The Sun” is another great power track built on an aggressive drum and bass line and it features some beautifully executed technical guitar teamwork. The nuclear apocalyptic “Glass Mountain” seems a little forced at the start, but gets rolling nicely by the chorus. “Wheel Of Sorrow” wraps the album with a different sound – more progressive and bass oriented at the start – but becoming a drum and rhythm guitar showpiece. Unfortunately instead of being a truly epic track, this 12 minute piece is just too drawn out and seems endless. While technically excellent, the band could have trimmed this one by a third without losing anything.

If you are into power metal, Eagleheart’s Dreamtherapy is a must – simply no other way to put it. There is nothing ground-breaking style-wise here, but this album is a distillation of modern power metal to its purest form and it could be held up to the rest of the world as the archetype despite a few easily overlooked flaws.

Dreamtherapy will be out on 24-November-2011 in Europe and 17-January-2012 in the USA on Scarlet Records

Genre: Power Metal

Band:
Vojta Šimoník (vocals)
Michal Kůs (guitars, vocals)
Michal Jankuliak (guitars)
Jiří Fiala (bass)
Zdeněk Vémola (drums)
Guest musician: Roland Grapow (vocals, guitar)

Track Listing:
1. Insomnia
2. Shades Of Nothing
3. Taste My Pain
4. Lost In The Dead End
5. Creator Of Time
6. Nothing Remains
7. Dreamtherapy
8. Burned By The Sun
9. Glass Mountain
10. Wheel Of Sorrow

Label: Scarlet Records

Website: http://www.myspace.com/eagleheartband, http://www.eagleheart.eu/

Hardrock Haven rating: 9/10

Kilmara | Don’t Fear the Wolf

by John Kindred
Staff Writer –

Kilmara is a Spanish metal band that was formed in 2003. Originally named Jadde, the group’s original compositions were written in their native language. Kilmara soon added German vocalist Christian Wolfgang to its ranks and moved away from performing lyrics in Spanish to English to appeal to a broader market of fans. They released their first demo in ’04, titled The Deceit. By 2007, the band added Jose Diaz on bass and released their debut album Hunting Dreams.

Pushing ahead to 2009, the band joined up with Roland Grapow (Helloween, Masterplan) who produced the band’s sophomore studio album at his recording studio in Slovakia. The band initially signed a deal with the Spain-based record label Maldito Records who released Don’t Fear the Wolf in Spain and Europe in May 2010. With a continued effort to get their music heard by a larger contingency of new fans, Kilmara inked a deal the U.K. label Rising Records in the fall of ’10 and followed up that with re-releasing Don’t Fear the Wolf for worldwide distribution.

Don’t Fear the Wolf features 13 heavy metal songs. Opening the album is “Inside the Darkness,” which is an intro highlighted by the sounds of a wolf howling and growling, literally, to the beat of a pounding heart. The intro segues into “The Dark Inside – Don’t Fear the Wolf,” and from here, the sonic onslaught unfurls. Kilmara’s music is very similar to Edguy, as they strike hard with heavy anthems that are driven by heavy, crunchy rhythms and a thunderous rhythm section. Wolfgang’s vocals ice the cake, so to speak, with a tonal character that emphasizes his mid-timbre delivery.

For the most part, the CD maintains a tight cohesion in the way the songs are sonically linked together. On “You Left Without Reason” and “Vampire of Love,” the vocals feature Wolfgang and guest vocalists Nuria Martoreli and Ester Ravontos. The addition of the female vocals works well layered in the background. But when featured as a solo accompaniment, it all too well reminds one of the current trend to a have an operatic-style female vocal ride over heavy metal riffs. It’s become cliché, and really it’s hard not to stifle a yawn. The music is better suited for Wolfgang to handle all of the primary vocal melodies. The guitarists strut their stuff, providing solos that complement the music and highlight their technical abilities.

Overall, the music is rock solid. With Roland Grapow handling production duties, you know you are going to get a top-notch, high-quality sounding album to listen to. The album features additional backing instrumentation that adds violins, violoncellos and percussion to the mix. Grapow takes the role of musician as well, adding solos to “The Dark Inside” and “Show Me the Way.” As an introduction to Kilmara, Don’t Fear the Wolf serves as a great starting point from which the band can build a career. The album would have been better served by only featuring 10 songs, not including the intro. Obviously, taking away the songs with the female who shared lead vocals duties would make the album more cohesive.

Genre: Heavy Metal

Band:
Christian Wolfgang Kohl (vocals)
Jonathan Portillo (guitar)
Enrique Torres (guitar)
Javier Morillo (drums)
Jose Diaz (bass guitar)
Label: Rising Records http://www.risingrecords.org/

Track List:
1. Inside The Darkness
2. The Dark Inside – Don’t Fear The Wolf
3. Rock The Night
4. All You Need Is Pray
5. Blindfold
6. The Dark Inside – You Better Run
7. Vampire Of Love
8. Let Sadness Be Destiny
9. You Left Without A Reason
10. You Won’t Live Forever
11. The Deceit
12. The Dark Inside – Show Me The Way
13. Dakujem Castle

Website: http://kilmara.com/

Hardrock Haven rating: 7/10

Masterplan Time To Be King

by John Kindred
Staff Writer

Masterplan is back in 2010 with their forth studio release to date, Time to Be King. Following up ’07’s MK II led to a period of time that saw original vocalist Jorn Lande step down and Mike DiMeo (Riot) join the band as his replacement. Whatever fallout between Lande and Masterplan soon reared its head with DiMeo, as he departed the group early in ’09. To the delight of Masterplan fans everywhere, Lande was announced to be returning to the band during the summer of the same year. Now, after plenty of Masterplan’s fans anxiously awaited, the new studio album Time to Be King finally has finally.

From the beginning, Roland Grapow held the vision for Masterplan within his mind as he and Uli Kusch (former drummer) created a style of music that developed from their involvement with Helloween. Forging Power Metal with the Norwegian vocal prowess of Jorn Lande baptized Masterplan in fire, creating their vision of Melodic Power Metal.

Time to Be King comprises 10 songs. The music still has that metallic fire of Masterplan’s debut release as well the melodic tones of Aeronautics. It was produced and recorded by Grapow at studio Slavakia. Mixing duties fell upon Grapow as well as Mikko Karmilla at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki. Overall, the production is of the highest caliber.

The music on Time to Be King continues to have the epic feel of past studio albums. The audio experience is entrenched in lavish musical arrangements and produces a wall of sonic bliss. The band’s Power Metal edginess builds the accompaniment for Jorn’s powerful voice and lyrical prose. Lande’s voice dances from hard-edged tonalities to melodic vocal melodies.

Time to Be King scores big by delivering catchy and memorable music that focuses on the band’s strengths. There are no filler songs for listeners to skip over. The band drives its point home with songs like “Far From the End of the World,” “Blow Your Wind,” The Dark Road” and “Under the Moon.” Constantly producing driving rhythmic beasts with no let up of intensity, Masterplan takes Power Metal to another dimension, giving all the songs life with the infusion of melodic overtones. Within the context of the band, all the instrumentation; guitars, bass, vocals and keys, support each other to produce balanced and focused arrangements.

Time to Be King is a fitting return for Masterplan. Not that they went vary far, but the brief loss of Lande was an unexpected distraction. We can thank whatever god you pray to that he is back. Through this process of change, the music never lost its fire, but it certainly was hard to hear any other singer married to Grapow’s guitar work after Lande.

Genre: Melodic Power Metal

Band Lineup:
Jørn Lande: Vocals
Roland Grapow: Guitars
Jan-Sören Eckert: Bass
Mike Terrana: Drums
Axel Mackenrott: Keyboards

Track Listing:
1. Fiddle Of Time (4:20)
2. Blow Your Winds (3:19)
3. Far From The End Of The World (3:35)
4. Time To Be King (4:44)
5. Lonely Winds Of War (4:35)
6. The Dark Road (6:19)
7. The Sun Is In Your Hands (4:32)
8. The Black One (4:13)
9. Blue Europa (5:07)
10. Under The Moon (4:14)

Bonus track on ltd. Edition:
11. Kisses From You

Label: AFM Records

Web: http://www.afm-records.de

Hardrock Haven rating: 9/10