Week 51: Running Wild - Genesis (The Making and the Fall of Man)

The artist: Running Wild are a power/traditional metal band from Germany who had written many great albums. Although Rock 'n' Rolf, the main man of the band stuck to what he was familiar with, it's hard to not appreciate all the great songs he's written throughout the years. Even during the later days where the band was losing inspiration and hired a drummer under a pseudonym named Angelo Sasso, Rolf still managed to write some excellent songs. Siberian Winter and The Ghost from The Brotherhood and Return of the Dragon and Ballad of William Kidd from The Rivalry should ensure that. Rolf would declare retirement of the band in 2009 but has recently announced a return along with a new album coming out in April named Shadowmaker.

The album: Black Hand Inn is the 1994 album from Running Wild which follows the same similar style to Pile of Skulls. These releases were less raw than their predecessors and had a more polished feel to them. Not that it's a bad thing or anything since it breathed some fresh air in their music. Like Pile of Skulls, there were many fast songs found throughout the album. Black Hand Inn even kicks off the record in a similar way to Pile of Skulls where it build up with an intro track and them BAM, you're launched into a speed metal craze. With essentials like The Privateer and even some gems with Fight the Fire of Hate, The Phantom of Black Hand Hill and Powder & Iron, you can forget the babbling from Allmusic who actually gave this album 1.5 stars and acknowledge great effort from this release.

The song: Genesis (The Making and the Fall of Man) starts off with a spoken verse explaining the events of the 12th planet from over 400,000 years ago, based on Zecharia Sitchin's work on ancient astronauts. Zecharia Sitchin's efforts weren't looked upon well for mistranslations, flawed methodology and a few other things but Rock 'n' Rolf saw something from it and made a 15 minute song dedicating to Sitchin's series. Even if the lyrical theme will irk you, it's hard to deny the greatness of the band's talents. Rock 'n' Rolf assisted with Thilo Hermann on guitars make some really good performance. Rock 'n' Rolf does make a huge domination with the song (well, it is his band) with his vocals and telling the band which direction to take throughout. With the climatic changes around six minutes in and ten minutes in, you can see a lot was done for this song and damn, that very riff at 10:40 is one hell of a headbanger and a good use of the galloping. Several high and mighty solos are found throughout the song and even though the beginning verse adds a few minutes to the song before it even began, Genesis (The Making and the Fall of Man) is one song of great attention that will last through all 15 minutes of its duration.

Week 46: Falkenbach - In Flames

The artist: Falkenbach is a one-man band from Germany whose real name is
Vratyas Vakyas. As a band formed by one single individual whose musical style consists of black/folk metal with a lot of Norse mythology sung in the songs, you can sure as hell bet Bathory is a major influence on Vakyas' own band. For a folk metal "band", Falkenbach plays some heavily folk songs unlike others who often combine one subgenre of metal with folk music. This side of Falkenbach heavily defines folk metal but on the other hand, there's a fair amount of his songs that have a strong sense of black metal and it's done professionally.

The album: Tiurida is Falkenbach's latest album released this year. It marks as his first album in six years since Heralding - The Fireblade. Surprisingly enough, Tiurida hasn't been a favourable album for some. Some claim the new album doesn't offer anything new to his music but it's hard to see it that way. Many popular metal bands such as Motörhead, Cannibal Corpse and Amon Amarth stick to the same formula and are respected for it but when it came to Falkenbach, some weren't impressed. Despite what they say, this is still a great album with being rich in character. If ...Where His Ravens Fly... and Runes Shall You Know don't click on for you, nothing will.

The song: In Flames (no, not the Swedish melodic death metal band) ironically starts off with sounds of waves. Vakyas makes an impressive kickoff with his clean guitars which is shortly interrupted by the main riff for the song which you will get to hear for the most part. Although the lyrics for this song were missing on the booklet for the album, it's still easy to determine he's a good harsh vocalist. It's not just his extreme vocals that make him good, though. The mid-section of the song has him implementing some choir vocals and these sound really good and add quite an atmosphere to this part. The song does throw you back to the main riff and will strike once more when the song settles down for the second time. Overall, In Flames is one of seven great songs from Tiurida. For songs like these and Runes Shall You Know, this is an easy contender for best of heavy metal in 2011.

Week 44: Helloween - Giants

The artist: So much can be said about this great band. Helloween are highly considered to be the pioneers for power metal and have influenced many bands from it. They had their golden days in the 80s with Kai Hansen and Michael Weikath on guitars, Michael Kiske on vocals (after Walls of Jericho), Markus Grosskopf on bass and Ingo Schwichtenberg on drums. They were at full force with the Keeper albums but Kai Hansen sadly left due to unhappiness with his position in the band and formed Gamma Ray later on (a great band regardless of this event). Kiske and Schwichtenberg would leave the band as well after Chameleon making Weikath and Grosskopf the only remaining founding members of Helloween. Sadly, Schwichtenberg committed suicide a few years later due to further depression with his mental issues.

Andi Deris replaced Kiske and has remained a loyal member ever since. Some may not like Mr Deris but personally, he's a great vocalist who has a unique character to him. The fact that Helloween have lived on today despite the fallout in 1993 and the unthinkable change of direction for The Dark Ride shows how strong this one particular band are. Maybe they should have gone under a different name due to how different they sound now in comparison to the 80s but that argument is for another day. Today is Halloween and it's only appropriate to talk about Helloween on this day.

The album: Chameleon is Helloween's controversial album. With the poor success they had with Pink Bubbles Go Ape, an experimental album wasn't the best decision to keep the band stable. Michael Weikath even admitted to wanting to make this like a Beatles album and does acknowledge how farfetched his idea was. Even so, this album wasn't all bad. It doesn't deserve to be at the bottom of the barrel along with Metallica's St. Anger and Cryptopsy's The Unspoken King. Although there are songs such as Crazy Cat and I Believe that don't really work well, there are still some great tunes that deserve respect and that is why Chameleon is the featured album out of 14 different albums to choose from (counting the Helloween EP).

The song: Giants is one of the few songs that sounds more along traditional Helloween but still taking some experimental routes. The songs offers the listener some heavy riffage and some solos throughout the song are nicely done when they are launched in the air. Credit has to be given to Weikath and Grapow here. Michael Kiske's voices have an echo to them and gives off quite a mood to the song. The song even incorporates some keyboards, even though there's never been a member in Helloween to play them full-time. These keyboards match the lyrics to the song quite well which is about slavery and the corrupted power of the rulers. It also shows how much they abused their people and makes the slaves hope for a better place to see someday. Overall, Giants is one song that shouldn't be ignored from Chameleon because it's a song that makes corrupted leaders fearsome and it's a damn rocking tune. Happy Halloween!

Week 42: Savage Circus - Waltz of the Demon

The artist: Savage Circus was founded by former Blind Guardian drummer Thomas Stauch after his disatisfaction with the new musical direction with Blind Guardian. He formed the band with Iron Savior and Persuader members including Iron Savior guitarist Piet Sielck (who traits all the way back to Kai Hansen with Gentry in 1978) and Persuader vocalist Jens Carlsson. From this band, Thomas Stauch wanted the band to sound like Blind Guardian during the Imaginations From the Other Side days. Sadly, after one album Thomas fell to long term sickness and eventually leave Savage Circus, thus defeating the main reason to even form this band in the first place.

The album: Dreamland Manor is Savage Circus' first album containing many great power metal tracks such as the speed metal opener Evil Eyes, the album's ballad Beyond Reality and slightly more complex tracks with Ghost Story and Waltz of the Demon. With Jens' voice sounding very much like Hansi Kursch and Persuader's musical style being similar to Blind Guardian, this is the ideal album for Thomas Stauch and how he wanted to sound mid era Blind Guardian. This may be a Blnd Guardian rip off but this was formed by a former member of the band so there's every right to immitate their style with this album.

The song: Waltz of the Demon starts off with a dark acoustic intro speaking about solitude and illusions. The song strikes with a heavy riff that can rival with the heaviness Blind Guardian provided in Follow the Blind. The prebridge, bridge and chorus sections shows some multi-layering that Blind Guardian (again) have done with the later albums but it all works here. The true highlight of the song is the section after the second time the prebridge-bridge-chorus part is played. Emil Norberg (of Persuader) and Piet Sielck play along together on their guitars for some impressive solos but it isn't too long when the song gets even heavier at 5 minutes in with a crushing riff and yet more solos. The song required to repeat the prebridge-bridge-chorus one more time to finish things off. Overall, Waltz of the Demon offers different sections of the song that make it worth listening to over and over again and if you're one of those who aren't fond of Blind Guardian's music post-Nightfall, hopefully this makes up for the wind of change in Hansi Kursch's band.

Week 35: Equilibrium - Des Sängers Fluch

The artist: Equilibrium are a recent German folk metal band with releasing their debut album Turis Fratyr in 2005. They only have three albums so far and with mixing folk metal elements with black and symphonic metal elemenets, they could do a lot with their style and one thing that would be great to see is more epic instrumentals such as Mana. That's a 16 minute monstrosity and it's a well written instrumental.

The album: Sagas is Equilibrium's second album released in 2008. The band provides a dynamic album with this one with playing fast folk metal numbers such as Blut im Auge and Heimwärts, the more complex structures with Unbesiegt and Des Sängers Fluch and of course Mana, the 16 minute instrumental behemoth. Out of the three Equilibrium albums so far, this one stands as the strongest one.

The song: Des Sängers Fluch (The Bard's Curse) is a song with a few major sections that manages to flow very well to make it sound like one big song rather than feel like you're listening to the next track. The song ranges from acoustic folk to black metal blast beating and screams to orchestral moments. For a first time listen it makes some unpredictable turns that make you wonder what the band will do with this one song next. The song lyrics, although they are in German, the English translations gives you a good idea on what the song is about. Des Sängers Fluch covers a dark time in the medieval world. A boy comes along to become a bard and is taught by an old man. He tries to confront the evil and play but fails and is killed. The elderly individual avenges him with the curse that destroys the evil once and for all. The song has the medieval feel to it so this story telling is highly appropriate. Overall, it's an excellent song with great song structure and comes with some interesting story telling, even if it requires translation.

Week 32: Van Canto - Take to the Sky

The artist: Van Canto are no doubt an oddball. Out of all 52 artists featured in Monday Metal Treasures, they are the only one who play heavy metal a cappella. The only instrument they provide are drums but even if you don't consider the drums, the vocals are still sung in a heavy metal style. Van Canto have become notable over the last few years with covering heavy metal classics such as Fear of the Dark, Kings of Metal and Master of Puppets in a cappella. With these covers, you can tell Van Canto are here to do something different in heavy metal as well as enjoying themselves. It may look like a gimmick but why should the fun be taken away by anyone?

The album: Hero is Van Canto's second album where half of the songs are actually covers. Personally it would be better if they had a whole album dedicated to covers but the mixture of both original and covers works pretty well here and make them part of the album. Looking beyond the covers, they have great songs such as Speed of Light, Pathfinder and Take to the Sky. Definitely worth picking up this album for the original songs as well as the covers.

The song: It's funny to even describe the a cappella vocals here but the song starts off with some "dum dum duuum". Not all of Van Canto's songs consist of "rakkarakka" and "riddly diddly" (Ned Flanders, much?) but it's humorous to hear the backing vocals saying "one" constantly as part of the music that would have been instruments for any other band, The best of all about the vocals is Hansi Kursch of Blind Guardian as the guest musician. They even have a woman on vocals for one section of the songs so there's a nice variety of singers here. The only thing that really sticks out like a sore thumb is the solos. It's hard to tell whether they're actually guitar solos or the a cappella vocals immitating them. If it's the latter they sound rather fake and this is one thing they should improve on or try to avoid. Still, putting the solos aside, it's still lots of fun to listen to Van Canto, especially a song that features a well praised vocalist such as Hansi Kursch.

Week 11: Blind Guardian - Fast to Madness

The artist: Blind Guardian have a well established heavy metal band. They may not be as famous as Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath but their musical quality has certainly been on par with metal's biggest names. Blind Guardian are the most well known band in the power metal scene even going as far as appealing to those who don't really like power metal to begin with and that is a sign of a really good band! There is more to this band than the power metal classics such as Nightfall in Middle-Earth and Imaginations from the Other Side. In the earlier days of Blind Guardian, they were under the name Lucifer's Heritage and had a strong influence of NWOBHM. They later changed their name to Blind Guardian offering a speed metal onslaught with their first two albums.

The album: Follow the Blind continues the speed metal style heavily influenced by Helloween's Walls of Jericho from Battalions of Fear. These guys weren't power metal quite yet here. Infact, this album sounds more thrash than power. Markus Siepen even admitted to the thrashy feel of the album after listening to a lot of thrash metal bands at the time. Even so, there were still some hints of the Blind Guardian style the fans now know and love with Valhalla. It has become a popular song to play theirs shows as a result as well as the extremely catchy chorus that can go on for minutes after the song even ends. Follow the Blind is an excellent album and is highly recommended for all Blind Guardian fans and even thrash metal fanatics.

The song: Fast to Madness is one of many tracks in Follow the Blind that puts the pedal full speed ahead. With a song title like Fast to Madness, you better expect the album to be a speed metal attack but not before the band warms up in the intro. Fast to Madness is based on the Eternal Champion book series which is very unlikely to be familiar to non-readers such as myself. Still, the lyrics have a strong fantasy feel as well as feeling fast to madness. Infact, this should have been the title track and would easily describe the album in general. Overall, this song provides a structure to maintain the listener's attention with the slow intro turning fast to madness as well as a variety of fast riffs, simple yet effective and catchy chorus from Hansi Kursch and colourful solos provided by the Olbrich and Siepen duo.

Week 10: Gamma Ray - Hand of Fate

The artist: Starting off power metal month for March, we have Gamma Ray. They formed in 1988 when Kai Hansen wasn't happy with his time with Helloween. He may have been one of the founding members of Helloween but he struggled to fit in the band after a while and departed right after the tour for Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2. He started the band with Ralf Scheepers who is known for being heavily influenced by Rob Halford for his singing style as well as forming Primal Fear later on after leaving Gamma Ray. When Ralf was gone, Kai Hansen was going to seek for a new vocalist but was advised to take care of singing himself, despite stepping down from vocals in Helloween to make way for Michael Kiske. Ever since it's been Kai Hansen on vocals.

The album: Power Plant is part of the classic trio for Gamma Ray starting with Land of the Free, followed by Somewhere Out in Space and this album. These three albums are fan favourites for the majority. Power Plant is just as good as Land of the Free and would have been a perfect album had it not been for that out of place cover of It's a Sin by Pet Shop Boys. Putting that aside, Power Plant is full of excellent Gamma Ray songs such as Anywhere in the Galaxy, Gardens of the Sinner, Armageddon and Strangers in the Night. It's a highly recommended album for metal fans, unless power metal isn't your cup of coffee.

The song: Hand of Fate starts with a piano intro followed by the band striking at full force after the first lyric section making it a very impressive intro overall for the song. The song is about the dark lord returning from hell to wreck havoc on earth. Many soldiers are fighting this demon and do what they can to send him back to hell. 10,000 men pray for the "hand of fate" to take down the dark lord once and for all. With a song full of great riffs, a marching feel of a chorus and a section launching several solos together, it's easy to call it high class power metal. The only thing that can be brought up for concern is the outro which sounds like we're on another song. Maybe the band originally had it planned to be an interlude track between Hand of Fate and Armageddon but changed it the last minute. Either way, Hand of Fate is still an excellent song provided by Gamma Ray.

Week 6: Accept - Neon Nights

The artist: Accept are one of the most recognisable German metal bands. These guys played a huge role in 80s metal for Germany with bands like Helloween, Running Wild and Grave Digger gaining inspiration from them as well as Scorpions' 70s material. Accept broke up in the mid-90s but recently returned with a new vocalist named Mark Tornillo. That's right, the band went on without Udo but surprisingly enough their new album Blood of the Nations has been a hit. Just shows that just because you don't have one certain person in the band doesn't mean that they're going to flat out suck. If you find this unbelievable, listen to Teutonic Terror.

The album: Restless and Wild is the fourth Accept album most known for having Fast as a Shark which has been covered by big metal acts such as Helloween and Rage as well as making an appearance in Brutal Legend. The rest of the album is also worth listening to with great tracks such as Ahead of the Pack, Princess of the Dawn and our metal song of the week Neon Nights.

The song: Neon Nights is actually the ballad of the album but does that make it a bad thing? Absolutely not, this song is a nice change of pace in the album after being struck down by mid-pace to fast tracks. Starting with an acoustic intro and leading onto a heavily distorted guitar to fit the mood of the song. Udo makes an excellent performance in this song, especially for the catchy chorus. It's somewhat repetitive for saying "neon nights" many times but you'll easily be singing to the chorus right after hearing this song. The last highlight to note is the solo at around 4 minutes in. It's slow but it goes with the rhythm of the song as well as making it a fantastic solo for a ballad. Overall, Neon Nights is a wonderful song that shouldn't be underestimated. A song like this missing in Restless and Wild would make the album feel incomplete.

Week 5: Scorpions - The Sails of Charon

The artist: Ending off early metal month, we have Scorpions. Scorpions are one of the most well known hard rock/heavy metal bands in Germany. Despite owning only three albums so far, if you consider the whole career of this band, you can easily tell they've taken a few directions over the years. They formed in 1965 which predates even Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin but didn't release an album until 7 years later with Lonesome Crow which was rather experimental but had some metal elements present. This is the same band that would release hits such as Rock You Like a Hurricane and Winds of Change. These songs overshadow a lot of great stuff Scorpions must have to offer, especially the great stuff from Taken By Force. After spawning 17 albums for 45 years, Scorpions have declared retirement once they finish off their current tour.

The album: Taken By Force is the last Scorpions album to feature Ulrich Roth and this man did quite a lot for Scorpions in the earlier days. He certainly went out with a bang for his time with Scorpions to play with Steamrock Fever, We'll Burn the Sky, Born to Touch Your Feelings and the song of the week The Sails of Charon. Any Scorpions fan who may have missed out on this album should give this one a try.

The song: The Sails of Charon is a true highlight in Taken By Force. The moment you hear it, your attention is attacted to a riff that you'd never hear before in any other song. The sheer awesomeness of the song doesn't stop right there as the song is then focused on Ulrich Roth's fantastic solo. They manage to squeeze all of that great material within a minute and a half. Once the intro is over, Klaus Meine comes in and shouts out some very dark and mean lyrics obviously based on the Charon mythology alongside with another fantastic riff for the song. The ending is also a highlight for its mysterious feel. All of this together makes this song a great definition for metal. Too bad it's heavily overshadowed by other songs Scorpions have.