Ehy I'm back! Since I changed my phone i completely forgot about this app!
Anyway, let's start back with a little gem.
Falconer is one of power metal’s often forgotten bands, met with appraisal whenever mentioned but often not the first band to pop to mind whenever someone mentions the genre. This is their best album, and I have no qualms with declaring it one of the championing power metal albums of the 2000s.
This is one of those albums like Kamelot’s The Black Halo or Lost Horizon’s A Flame… that just gets everything right – a real product of its time and something that can’t be replicated every time the band goes into the studio. They blend exquisite folksy melody with heavy, hooky riffing and one of metal’s most unique vocalists and come out with a real winner that I can play any time. Great tunes like “Decadence of Dignity,” “Enter the Glade,” “For Life and Liberty,” the moving “Portals of Light”…every song rules, right up to the slamming, upbeat rocker “Busted to the Floor.” They’re all instantly memorable and you’ll be singing along by song 3.
Vocalist Matthias Blad is a real find, and many have already gone on and on about his trained theater tenor, smooth and refined as it is, so I won’t waste much of your time with that. What people usually forget about is the guitarwork of Stefan Wennerhall, who is one of the genre’s great unsung heroes, with his consistently catchy, propulsive riffing. He blends power metal and folk almost seamlessly and ends up with something that, unlike so many try-hard bands nowadays, is actually appealing to fans of either genre. The riffs just never stop coming on this album, and they’re all attitude-filled, hooky as hell stompers. He also knows how to play it more subtly, and never goes overboard and takes over the music – also a plus.
Really this is just a grade-A classic; every song is great and the songwriting is always top notch stuff. What more can I say about it? It’s one of the best PM albums of the decade, and if you like anything from Tad Morose to Kamelot you’ll find this up your alley. Highly recommended.
