Stormwarrior - Northern Rage

*=Staff's pick	And The Northewinde Bloweth Heroic Deathe Valhalla* Thy Laste Fyre* Welcome Thy Rite Óðinn’s Warriors* Bloode Eagle Sigrblót To Foreign Shores Lindisfarnel*

Genre	Heavy Metal	Lars Ramcke	Vocals
Tracks	10	Lars Ramcke	Guitar
Runningtime	55 Min.	David Wiczorek	Guitar
Label	Remedy Records	Jussi Zimmermann	Bass
Release	10 June 2004	Falko Reshöft	Drums
Country	Germany	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Helloween, Blind Guardian

The sophomore album from Stormwarrior continues pretty much exactly where 2002's self titled masterpiece left us. Classic, german heavy metal with very, very strong references to Helloween's milestone Walls Of Jericho. If possible, it has even been turned up a notch when it comes to intensity and speed, because it is fast and breathtaking.

Nevertheless they have managed to implement a more mature and worked through sound this time, as where the debut occasionally had a bit unpolished and more amateuristic parts, they now show proof of a solid production and vocal arrangements that explore areas outside the otherwise narrow frame this band work in. Overall it is a bit more richer and juicy music that meets us. Apart from that minor sidestep, we still get the rolling, melodic riffs, the thunderous double bass drums and the sing along refrains. Just as we are used to - and I just love it.

The minus side is of course again that it might sound a bit repeatative sometimes, since the tempo is pretty much constant and the musical concept does not allow many sidesteps. It is mainly a question of the mood for the day, as sometimes you wish they would burn away the tracks even faster and sometimes it is more enjoyable in smaller doses. They have managed to blend a few more heavy and not-as-fast tunes over the album, though, and that works very well. In fact two of them, Thy Laste Fyre and Odins Warriors, belong to the highlights of the album as they are marvellous bits. I sure would like to hear more of that on the next effort. More heavy driven pieces with more epic refrains are a fresh breeze every once in a while on this album.

Production wise it sounds like before - the feeling of the 80's is constantly laying over the whole effort like a wet blanket. As well as on the previous album, this time Kai Hansen is involved in the producing and mixing, and is in addition to that performing guest vocals and a guitar solo.

The full points for their debut, handed out by my reviewing colleague, I guess were handed out equally much for the impact of this kind of style being picked up and played again in the best possible way, as for the actual musical skills. This time it is the other way around, I think: the music is actually better, but the first wave of excitment over the style has settled a bit. I also, due to that fact, settle with a grade close to, but not reaching, perfection. This is pure heavy metal, and this is how it should sound. With even more development in the right direction until next time, there are more points to be earned from me by Stormwarrior.

See also review of: Thunder & Steele , Heading Northe , At Foreign Shores , Stormwarrior

Production	Vocals	Compositions
8,5	8,5	9

Summary
9 chalices of 10 - Tommy