THE ELDER

For pure shock-value, this album ranks very high on the list. No, we are not talking about lyrically shocking themes like the ones the death and black metal scene is occupied with. We are talking pure music here. It is shocking to hear flamenco combined with thrash metal on one album. That gives this album it's undeniable shock-value.

The vocalist sounds like James Hetfield in Metallica and the trash metal is in the same vein as abovementioned Metallica, with a touch of Testament and Slayer. Add some instrumental electric guitar pieces and flamenco. By flamenco, I mean hard-core flamenco and not the soft flamenco Triana did thirty years ago. This is a heck of a clash between two alien music styles.............. or is they ? I am not sure about that.

The end result is both a fragmented and a coherent album. The sparks flies on most of the stuff. There is also some pretty boring electric guitars twiddly-twee pieces here which falls flats on it's face. But the pieces of music with both thrash metal and flamenco is unforgetable and the sparks flies. Is that good ? I am in two minds here. But I am in no doubts that this is a very engaging album where the jaw drops to the floor several times. Both in disbelief and admiration. Flametal is both a brave and an innovative band. The Elder is a very admirable album. It is one of a kind. And the bottom line is that it is a good album too. It is not an album which makes me dance flamenco (I do not want to break both my legs) in joy, but still an album I cherish. It has to be heard to be believed. I give it top marks for orginality and three stars for it's quality.

3 stars