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Custard - Wheels Of Time


*
=Staff's pick

Fragments Of Eternity
Wheels Of Time*
Escape Reality
Chance
Inner Void*
One Step Too Far
Sunrise
Shine On
Fade Out
Lost Forever*
Scared


Genre Heavy/Power Metal
Guido Brieke
Vocals
Tracks 11
Holger Simon
Guitar
Runningtime 48 Min.
Karsten Knüppel
Guitar
Label Mausoleum Records
Jens Schröder
Bass
Release 29 Aug. 2005
Chris Klapper
Drums
Country Germany
-
Keyboards
Similar artists Helloween, Gamma Ray, Primal Fear

It is a funny name they have chosen Custard, I don't know how the hell they did come up with the idea to name their band after vanilla cream, but there aren't any slow flowing sweet tasting smear to find on Wheels Of Time. The band have been around since 1987 and features Chris Klapper as only original member. The full-length debut didn't arrive until 1999 and with Wheels Of Time the third release from Custard sees the daylight. The first album in five years and also the first with the new guys Holger Simon on guitar and Jens Schröder on bass.

Custard plays German metal when it is at its best. It is fast and hard hitting with catchy melodies, in other words a perfect mix between power and thrash. Their music is like a mix of Helloween from the Keeper Of The Seven Keys era with the fast and melodic parts combined with the harder and rawer edge from Primal Fear. The vocals from Guido Brieke, that are good although somewhat unstable, comes out as a mix between Ralf Sheepers and Michael Kiske, something that further enhances the impressions of the mentioned bands. The album starts good after the intro with the title track Wheels Of Time that immediately makes you aware that Custard is a band that plays intense power metal with the classical catchy refrains.

The catchy melodies sometimes come close to Dragonforce, for example with the song One Step Too Far, although Custard manage to deliver the songs without the hyper speed, even if they turn up the pace pretty good with the last song Scared. Custard follow the given formula and they do it good, and even if they don't add anything new to this style of metal they have good songs and none of them fall out of frame. It is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary but still they get the work done. The production is a bit thin and make the album sound older than what it is, a more richer and modern sound would probably made the songs a little better on Wheels Of Time, or at least more enjoyable to listen to.

See also: Song By Song Commentary

Production
Vocals
Compositions

7

6

7

 
Summary



7 chalices of 10 - Thomas

Related links:

www.custard.de