Fraise - Hellicornia

*=Staff's pick	Hellicornia Set us Free* Fight With Fire* Ice Cold Saratoga July Profile Of The Day* Rise Again Kings And Queens* X9

Genre	Heavy Metal	Jesper Max	Vocals
Tracks	10	Anders Karlsson	Guitar
Runningtime	42 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	---	Simon Lindholm	Bass
Release	09 Feb. 2004	Patrick Fransson	Drums
Country	Sweden	Håkan Ivarsson	Keyboards
Similar artists	Nocturnal Rites, Accept, Hammerfall

The Swedish metal factory is as usual working at high pressure and this time it's Fraise's Hellicornia that's one the later products from the assembly lines. It all began when founder and drummer Patrick Fransson gathered some musicians to start out a musical project but one thing led to another and it all transformed into the forming of an actual band- Fraise. This five headed piece hails from the city of Alingsås in the southern part of the country, and Hellicornia is their self-financed and also self-produced debut album. The promo sheet suggests that the band provides a blend of power and heavy metal that mainly's got its roots in melodies from the 80's combined with the energy of the 90's and they label their own music "truemetalism" which clearly hints what this band is offering.

Big musical influences are according to the band are Helloween, Hammerfall, Nocturnal Rites and Accept but I'd say that it's the later three plus some touches of early Iron Maiden and also early Queensryche that best reflect the musical direction. The entire feel of the album's got a very solid 80's classic metal feel written all over and a very nostalgic sense rather quickly emerges. Fraise have still managed to create a quite personal sound and have composed a real interesting first album that feels fresh and innovating. Most of the tracks are located somewhere between up- and mid-tempo along the classic heavy metal routine and a very strong focus is laid on the rhythmic and solid driving riffage where not only very strong Accept influences can be heard but also a guitar use of galloping character and twin axe harmonies that follow closely along the early/mid Iron Maiden trajectories. Some real nice arpeggio arrays, good bass riffing, solid double keg beating (real impressive work by Fransson!), full choruses and atmospheric keyboards are also thrown in for good measure and especially the keys and Hammerfall inspired refrains give the album a more modern approach.

But of course there are areas that need some improvement and an example of that are the vocals of Jesper Max although he manages to resemble Scorpions very own Klaus Maine at times. His set of pipes still sounds a bit too average and even nasal on some occasions and that's particularly true when the tempo slows down. The lacks in depth and punch are very noticeable although he still manages to cover quite some range, but hey, the band's just getting started and I'm certain these shortcomings will be properly dealt with. The production is very good for a self financed one and executed in their own studio and all. The band's definitely managed to capture the mood and sound that goes with this kind of heavy metal and they feel like a very steadfast metal unit. The sound is surprisingly full and clear sounding with all instruments getting their fair share of the cake but of course a comparison to a label financed one would still be totally unfair.

To round things off though Hellicornia is a very solid and also at times quite impressive and exciting metal issue that although perhaps miss out some real highlights still make me lack any serious reasons to why this shouldn't result in a label record contract. It's very even and consistent throughout and the melodies and power of the genre is certainly there and well adapted to the Fraise personal sound. I sincerely hope I'm right in my predictions since it would be a real shame that the talent and potential that's being displayed here never reaches the bigger market due to lack of marketing possibilities and exposure. So memorize the name Fraise, check out their official site for sound samples and keep your eyes and ears open for what the future holds in store for this new Swedish act.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
6,5	6	6,5

Summary
6,5 chalices of 10 - Mat