Castillion - Triumph And Tragedy

Published March 05 2009

*=Staff's pick	Ljudion* Electric Skies* Fade To Nothing I Ride My Pain The Darkest Night Interlude Denying Destiny Triumph And Tragedy Repent My Sins* Written In Stone Neon Knight Ljudion

Genre	80's Heavy/Power Metal	Ulf Sörman	Vocals
Tracks	12	Robert Örnesved	Guitar
Runningtime	42 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Self released	Magnus Stenberg	Bass
Release	12 July 2007	Johannes Berg	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	Wolf, Hammerfall, Helloween

Swedish metal merchants Castillion kicks off their new album in quite a mellow way with the acoustic into "Ljudion". I've been listening to this album quite a lot of times and at first I couldn't really wrap my head around what the problem was. The band has a good enough singer, a killer drummer and a guitarist and bass player that also performs well. The songs are also pretty good, but still something is missing. Well, it can be summarized in one word - energy! This is supposed to be metal, but where's the energy? It sounds like they are falling asleep at times! It's so meek and careful, like they are afraid to wake someone up. Was it recorded at night with kids sleeping in the next room? For fucks sake - get a bit of fire into the playing and the sound!

The quality is there, it's just the performance that really irritates me! Listen to a band like, for instance, Wolf and how they execute their songs. Get some of that fire, fury and energy! Get a producer that knows metal and not someone that seems more accustomed to mixing Swedish dance-bands. Sing the songs with a bit more passion and conviction and play the fucking guitar like you mean it through an amp that can deliver! Then, and only then, this will sound like you really mean it! Right now it's way closer to tragedy than triumph.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	6	5	6	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Stark