Finland - land of ice and snow, to quote Stratovarius. Oh,
Stratovarius,
how can you be so annoying and so popular? Following in your footsteps
is
another Finnish product - Excalion. Power Metal too generic for my
taste.
Catchy and melodic, but somehow seems too slow, which makes it sound
forced.
Liner notes are one my favorite things about albums. This time there is
an
appealing tid-bit in there - the album was recorded in
Jyväskylä
- a beautiful town in the middle of Finland. Based on pictures I've
seen
it is wonderfully picturesque. Especially in winter. Unfortunately,
not much of this inspiring nature rubbed off on this Excalion offering.
The opener - Temptation Wasteland - starts out promising with a nice
riff
and a good melody. Good choice there. It may very well be the best
track
on the album, except for the misplaced keyboards solo. This is also a
track which appeared on one of the band's demos and as such is
generally
more polished and comfortable sounding. It will be interesting to hear
the
demo and compare. In recent years many songs did not translate well
from
demo to album (some examples are Excalion's fellow Finns Dreamtale and
neighbouring Swedes Amaran and Seventh One). I am curious to find out
what
happened in the case of Excalion. Alas, what follows is to me as horrid
as
they come. A Moment in the Spotlight is so repetitive, it is downright
annoying. The lyrics are inane. Bands need to realize that only Manowar
can get away with miserable lyrics of the "blow your speakers" variety.
It
is definitely ear-worm material - it has been haunting me for days, but
notin a good way...
Dire Waters has the markings of a good epic song and I find it very
appealing and enjoyable with the heavy guitars cutting in after the
verse.
The chorus doesn't match that intensity.
Excalion has all the elements of a good power band - decent singer,
good
melodies, capable musicians, and yet... somehow it fails to come
together.
Once again a band that teens with not much exposure to the scene will
absolutely love and cherish, but to me it is all a bit flat, a bit off,
a
bit slow, a bit... not quite there.
I am ragging on the guys in the hopes that in the future they will
improve
and find their own originality and direction. The potential is
definitely
there - good musicians with good ideas. Thus far the execution is
laking somewhat. My hope is that I will hear from Excalion again and
that
next time I will find them more cohesive and with a better flow.
