Van Canto - A Storm to Come
Van Canto do something I've honestly never thought possible, namely combining power metal with acapella singing. Well, not strictly acapella, as they feature real drums, but every other sound on this album is provided by the human voice.
The idea struck me as a potential gimmick before I heard the band the first time. After all, we have bands singing in Latin and other dead languages, dressing up as Tolkien characters and doing all sorts of other weird things in the world today. A great many of these bands are memorable only for the gimmick, and I was concerned that Van Canto would be "that acapella band", rather than being memorable for good music.
"A Storm to Come" focuses slightly more on the acapella side of the band than the power metal one, although all the songs (with the possible exception of their finale, covering Metallica's "Battery") are clearly performed with a power metal attitude. The other full-length tracks are all original compositions, a good move as it allows the vocalists to show their skills and in a sense "get used to" the format.
The lineup of the band - in general - has a male and female pairing taking the "lead" parts, with three other vocalists in the wings. These three men provide the sounds of the rhythm and lead guitars, as well as the bass. It's not always so simple here, as Inga (female vocals) often disappears into a "guitar" solo as well, while some of the "instrument" vocalists appear singing real words at times. At its best, this creates a surprisingly "thick" sound that those who've listened to acapella music in other settings will recognise immediately, albeit with the twist being provided by the power metal attitude and subject matter.
To be brutally honest, some sections of this album do tend to drag. The lyrics don't often move beyond the cliches we all know and love (or know and hate, depending) of power metal - riding off on incredible quests, discovering beautiful maidens, standing alone in the face of unspeakable trials and the like. A number of the arrangements, too, are rather uninspired, although they do showcase the unusual talents of this project. The blandness is mitigated somewhat by the genuine enthusiasm the band has for what they're doing. I simply can't believe that grown men would sing "rakatakatakataka-BUM-DUM-BUM" if they didn't believe in what they were doing, for example.
Still, as debut albums go, this provides some serious hope for their second release. Van Canto may never move beyond being a footnote in the annals of heavy metal, but they'll almost certainly become a footnote well worth checking out.
Copas dari http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Van_Canto/A_Storm_to_Come/145532/
Tracklist:
1. Stora Rövardansen 01:33
2. King 03:44
3. The Mission 04:18
4. Lifetime 04:49
5. Rain 04:03
6. She's Alive 04:12
7. I Stand Alone 04:44
8. Starlight 04:40
9. Battery (Metallica cover) 05:13
TKP
password : nymph
0 comments :
Post a Comment