{"id":40218,"date":"2014-05-04T06:14:12","date_gmt":"2014-05-04T11:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=40218"},"modified":"2014-05-04T06:14:12","modified_gmt":"2014-05-04T11:14:12","slug":"human-fortress-raided-land-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/human-fortress-raided-land-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Fortress | Raided Land<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"HumanReleased at the tail end of last year, Raided Land<\/em> is the fourth album from Germany\u2019s Human Fortress, and the first to feature Gus Monsanto (ex-Adagio, ex-Revolution Renaissance) on vocals. Monsanto is the band\u2019s third singer in as many albums, and he\u2019s also one of the most underrated voices in power metal. Along with bringing in a new singer, Human Fortress has also (wisely) dropped the style change from 2008\u2019s disastrous Eternal Empire<\/em> album and returned to their original power metal style, all but apologizing to their fans in the liner notes.<\/p>\n

Raided Land<\/em> really does seem like a new beginning for this band. They\u2019ve come back after a five year absence with a new focus on their power metal roots, and have a singer with the perfect power and range to suit the kind of songs they write. Musically, Raided Land has the early Human Fortress sound down, though with perhaps a bit more of a nod to melodic metal bands like Masterplan and Silent Force. There\u2019s a good balance between all-out metal and some exquisite keyboard work and orchestration by Dirk Liehm. The album feels like a concept album, with an atmosphere and energy that runs throughout each song and a singular lyrical focus on warriors fighting the good fight and triumphing over adversity. Monsanto delivers a standout performance, as expected, sounding at times like Tony Martin in his prime. The backing vocals by none other than Michael Bormann (Silent Force, ex-Jaded Heart) are another nice touch.<\/p>\n

The whole of Raided Land is satisfying, but the album does have some standout tracks. \u201cWasted Years\u201d is an obvious highlight, as are \u201cDark Knight\u201d and \u201cRestless Souls,\u201d and \u201cGuard the Blind\u201d closes things down on a rousing, anthemic power metal note. Human Fortress isn\u2019t reinventing the genre here, but playing it safe is kind of the point, and the results are impressive.<\/p>\n

If the main objective of Raided Land<\/em> was to win back the fans who were disappointed by Eternal Empire, then mission accomplished. This is also an ideal starting point for newcomers to experience Human Fortress, since it\u2019s arguably their best effort to date. Fans of melodic power metal, from Rhapsody to Gamma Ray to Iron Savior to Masterplan, should find a lot to like about this one.<\/p>\n

Genre: Power Metal<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nGus Monsanto (v)
\nDirk Liehm (k)
\nTodd Wolf (g)
\nVolker Trost (g)
\nAndre Hort (b)
\nLaki Zaios (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tRaided Land
\n2.\tChild of War
\n3.\tWasted Years
\n4.\tThe Chosen One
\n5.\tShelter
\n6.\tThe Gladiator of Rome (Part II)
\n7.\tDark Knight
\n8.\tPrelude
\n9.\tPray For Salvation
\n10.\tEvil Curse
\n11.\tRestless Souls
\n12.\tUnder Siege
\n13.\tGuard the Blind<\/p>\n

Label: AFM Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.facebook.com\/humanfortressofficial<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Released at the tail end of last year, Raided Land is the fourth album from Germany\u2019s Human Fortress, and the first to feature Gus Monsanto (ex-Adagio, ex-Revolution […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8645,2317,9254,1097,9255],"class_list":{"0":"post-40218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-human-fortress","11":"tag-power-metal","12":"tag-raided-land"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}