» Cdreviews  
« back

Metalium - Demons Of Insanity: Chapter Five


*
=Staff's pick

Earth In Pain (intro)
Power Of Time*
Demons Of Insanity*
Cyber Horizon
Ride On*
Endless Believer
Sky Is Falling
Destiny
Mother Earth
Out Of The Silence
Atrocity
Silence Of The Night*
Visions Of Paradise
One By One


Genre Power Metal
Henning Basse
Vocals
Tracks 14
Matthias Lange
Guitar
Runningtime 66 Min.
-
Guitar
Label Armageddon
Lars Ratz
Bass
Release 25 April 2005
Michael Ehré
Drums
Country Germany
-
Keyboards
Similar artists Paragon, Blind Guardian

Metalium has been one of my absolute personal favorite bands, all since their second release State Of Triumph hit me with its aggressive, forceful iron. The following Hero Nation took a bit longer to grow into my liking, but eventually became even stronger. The forth chapter As One was a bit less brilliant though and remains a bit of a disappointment. Therefore I was prepared for a terrible revenge now when I could lay my leather gloves on Demons Of Insanity. But I almost want to cry out of disappointment. Here are few traces left of what once made Metalium almost unique as a metal act.

I usually claim Henning Basse to be one of the best of the best when it comes to power metal-singers. But on the two latest releases something has happened. His voice is not as raw, powerful and varied anymore. It feels like he is stuck in a constant high-pitch (the so-called Kiske complex), which becomes almost painful to listen to after a while. Not until the ballad Silence Of The Night (track 12) he uses more of his spectra as a vocalist. Unfortunately, the compositions are not what they used to be - in the first three chapters - either. It seems like Metalium are too preoccupied with finding a new theme for the next chapter in their book, so that they forget to simply write good metal songs.

How does it sound then? Well, as usual we hear a speaker voice, accompanied by heavy drums, telling us what this chapter will be about. So far, so good. Power Of Time is kind of a typical Metalium song, a fast opener in the same vain as Revenge Of Tizona. But Basse's falsetto cannot fully bear the chorus. The riffs feel quite tired and standardized. Simply put, a bleak copy. The title track is more progressive. The chorus would have been okay if Basse just had lowered his voice a little. Cyber Horizon is a typical power metal track with double basedrum and over-melodic chorus. At the intro to Ride On we finally get some more power from the rhythm section. But when Basse starts to yell again, the song are back at the same level as the others. Endless Believer starts a bit slower with a very strong verse. Unfortunately the chorus once again are totally uninspired. So it moves on, track by track, and I start to realize that I will not get anything in the same class as Dream Of Doom, Steel Avenger or Fate Conquered The Power. Even if you generously erased the four-five weakest songs, there would not be enough peaks to get a higher average grade. Suddenly Power Of Time seems like one of the strongest tracks.

The production is clattery. Not in the sense of a live feeling, but rather "we tried to achieve a bombastic studio sound, but failed". Before I have listened through the whole record I have lowered the volume tree times - and that is not a good sign… A positive thing though is that the not so pleasant voice of "Metaliana" seems to be out of the picture, in spite of the cover art. I listen the album through, again and again, and I really want it to be better, but it isn't.

See also review of: Incubus , As One , Hero Nation

Production
Vocals
Compositions

3

4

3

 
Summary



3 chalices of 10 - David

Related links:

www.metalium.de
www.myspace.com/metalium