Forgotten Suns Innergy

Tweet

by Franco Wissa
Staff Writer

Portugal’s Forgotten Suns, around since 1991 with a revamp in their lineup from their 2004 release Snooze, give their follow-up Innergy a much heavier direction. The tracks are long, but give this band plenty of time to showcase their musical chops. Deep, crunchy guitar chords, heavy use of the keyboards, hard hitting drums all give this metal quintet a punch that rocks hard. In higher octaves new front man Nio Nunes strains to stay in tune, but in his comfort zone he certainly can hold his own. But, when the octave pitch does change, it becomes a tilt of the head and one finds themselves quickly hoping that the range changes back to where he is comfortable. It might have been better for the songwriters to know of the range of their vocalist and avoid the ranges that do not fit in with the ability of their singer.

As has been said before, metal releases either have it or don’t. They either will come trailblazing with guns cocked and loaded and explode from your speakers with sounds of thunder and killer licks, or instead comes across as uninspiring and lackluster. Even with the most technically advanced sounds coming from the keyboards, guitars and vocals it can still sound off kilter. But this can also be said for any release, whether it is pop, rock, blues, metal or hard rock. On Innergy, Forgotten Suns comes across in parts of Vanden Plas and in certain moments hints of Alice in Chains came through. The sound was loud, bottomless and unscripted to just one genre. The boys of Forgotten Suns used their instruments to bring out what is good about progressive, metal and power bands like Edguy or Firewind. Certainly no easy task, but the boys do it all and they, for the most part do it all well. But mixing so many styles of songwriting and playing, just when one gets used to the prog/metal sounds of “Flashback,” and expects that this is the style of Innergy the direction changes to the fusion/nu-metal of “Doppelganger,” to old school metal of “Outside In,” the funk/grunge (with its hint of the progressive) of “Mind over Matter,” to the thrash metal of “Racing the Hours” and the Rush sounding “An Outer Body Experience,” this is confusing, and leaves the listener having to change their thought process.

The keyboard work is stunning (especially true on the 10 minute monster, “News,”) the guitar work as well heard on “News,” is lingering, with long solos, evil riffs and guitarist Ricardo Falcoa can hold his own giving his work credence. Drummer J.C. Samora uses his drum set to its fullest advantage giving a true workout to all sounds in his arsenal. While the 10 minute “News,” and “Outside In,” and the almost 13 minute “Nanoworld,” was a bit much and it seemed to meander on, the talents of the band members must be pointed out.

Overall, Forgotten Suns gives us all of what it is the rock and metal world have to offer. But with a singer not as strong as he should have been and a release that changes in its vibe often, it is difficult to understand what it is that the boys were trying to bring across. And even with the talent and songwriting prowess that was heard, it makes it a complicated CD to listen to in one take.

Label: SPV

Track Listing
Flashback
Racing the Hours
News
Doppelganger
An Outer Body Experience
Outside In
Nanoworld
Mind over Matter

Band Members
Ricardo Falcoa – guitars
Miguel Valadares – keyboards
J.C. Samora – drums
Nuno Correia – bass
Nio Nunes – vocals

HRH Rating: 7/10