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THE ELDERFlametalProgressive Metal3.59 | 13 ratings |
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UMUR
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The Elder is american metal band Flametal´s debut album. As the bandname suggests their style
is a mix of flamenco ( Fla) and metal. It´s a very innovative move and it´s done in a true
progressive spirit. Is it a successfull mix then? I guess it depends on the ears that hear.The music can by described as a mix of flamenco like Paco de Lucia ( a bit of Al Di Meola) and classic metal/ US power metal. The tech metal tendencies show here and there, but the metal part of the music isn´t very impressive IMO. The flamenco parts are very good though and keeps the music exciting. When the vocals appear they really stink though. Boring lifeless rough singing. They really destroy more than they enhance the music. I would have prefered that The Elder was instrumental all the way through with vocals like these. No power is the best way to describe the vocals. I won´t point out any highlights as all songs are of equal quality. Journey Into Fear is a bit more epic than the rest even though the 14:43 minutes is a cheat. There is about 5-6 minutes of silence before a bit of flamenco guitar playing ends the album. Not the best choice to end an album with. One other thing about the music I have to mention is the flamenco clapping which is a funny feature in Flametal´s music. The musicianship is good and I´ll have to mention the flamenco guitar playing by band leader Benjamin Woods as it is of high class I just wish he wouldn´t sing. The production isn´t too good and sometimes I feel like I´m sitting between two recordings by a flamenco artist and a metal band and I think it´s partly the productions fault. I saw a couple of 5 star ratings for this album and the mix of flamenco and metal seemed interesting to me so I tried it out. I can´t say it´s an album I will listen to very often, but it will find it´s audience I´m sure. To me this is a 3 star album. There are good things like the flamenco guitar parts but there are also some pretty generic metal parts I could have done without.
UMUR |
3/5 |
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