Falconer - Black Moon Rising

Published June 18 2014

*=Staff's pick	Locust Swarm Halls And Chambers Black Moon Rising* Scoundrel And The Squire Wasteland* In Ruins At The Jesters Ball There's A Crow On The Barrow* Dawning Of A Sombre Age Age Of Runes The Priory

Genre	Power Metal	Mathias Blad	Vocals
Tracks	11	Stefan Weinerhall	Guitar
Running time	50 Min.	Jimmy Hedlund	Guitar
Label	Metal Blade	Magnus Linhardt	Bass
Release	06 June 2014	Karsten Larsson	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Producer	Andy La Rocque
Similar artists	---

Three years ago, Falconer released its latest effort, Armod, with lyrics entirely sung in the band's native language Swedish. Black Moon Rising has completely left that behind and we see a return to English lyrics. With main composer and bandleader, Stefan Weinerhall, back in the driver's seat after a year-long absence from guitar playing and musical creativity, the band faced a great challenge, but they have truly come back as winners and they feel positively motivated to bring forth something to make your money's worth.

The music has, in a positive sense, stepped back a few steps to greater moments. It's not like they've taken us on a journey back to the very first demo, but there are in fact strong similarities with this unit's earlier work. The songs are generally fast, high-powered and tremendously accurate with a slight touch of medieval elements, woven in as a variety to finalize the outcome. It's still in the same vein, yet with more rawness involved, compared to a few of the latest albums. The riffs are blatantly approached with force and confidence and are significantly meaner. The overall guitar play has a sharpened sound and feels direct without leaving the melodies hung out to dry.

Lead vocalist, Mathias Blad, is as always a towering element to complete the Falconer attribute. His unique capacity and his tone of voice must be few of a kind in the history of metal. The hard to deny fact that he actually is a real singer, with years and years of practice, and not some random guy whose skills and abilities simply weren't good enough to play an instrument, puts this band a little ahead of other bands in this specific vein of metal.

This performance of Falconer features a sound picture that's not too well polished and clean. It seems genuine and is way more massive overall than anything they've achieved in the past. It's a missile that repels all doubts about what this band is able to produce in this day and age and I really love this blasting effort. The power, the melodies and the vividness stand out as pillars and Black Moon Rising will definitely spin numerous times in my audio system in the future. Indeed one of 2014's most valued releases.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	8	7	9	8

Summary
8,5 chalices of 10 - Tobbe