Emerald Re-Forged

by Joe Mis
Staff Writer

Re-Forged is the newest release from the veteran metal band Emerald. Hailing from Switzerland, this sextet has put together a dozen pounding tracks of relentless metal that will blow out even the best speakers.

Emerald’s roots extend back to 1995 when members of Dark Crystal and Oppress joined forces to create a new heavy metal act. Although only one founding member – guitarist Michael Vaucher – remains with the band, their devotion to metal remains a constant. Putting out big booming tracks of melodic heavy metal, Emerald draws influences from the greats – Virgin Steele, Iron Maiden, Jag Panzer, Warlord, Savatage and Crimson Glory to name a few. Despite many lineup changes early on, Emerald managed to build a solid core of talented musicians over the years. Joining Michael Vaucher are bassist Adriano Troiano (1997+), keyboard player Thomas Vaucher (1998+), drummer Alex Spicher (2007+), vocalist Thomas Winkler (2009+) and guitarist Manuel Werro (2009+). Re-Forged is the band’s fifth studio release.

Musically, Emerald straddles a number of genres. They add elements of progressive metal and old school heavy metal to a solid base of power metal to create their signature sound. Thomas Winkler has a very powerful voice probably best described as a blend of Rob Rock and Ripper Owens. He sings clearly and stays within his range, and can crank out a fairly good falsetto when needed. Michael Vaucher and Manuel Werro make up a very potent guitar team. They lay down some amazingly complex rhythm lines while making them sound so simple. Both are decent soloists, but seem most comfortable when playing high-speed solos. Their slow breaks are decent, but seem occasionally sluggish or cold. Thomas Vaucher is a good keyboard player, never taking over the music and blending in well with the rest of the band. The real heart and soul of Emerald seems to be the bottom end. Alex Spicher is an amazing drummer capable of doing it all – and doing it all well. Keeping up with him is bassist Adriano Troiano. His bass work is generally subtle but he steps to the fore often with some powerful fills and riffs. The two make a great team and drive everyone else forward. The band’s song lyrics are pretty much power metal standard – stories of wars, heroes, sorcery and political criticism – but well done.

Musical highlights include the amazing harmony guitar work on “The Last Legion,” the staggered, choppy rhythms and big gang chorus of “Pipes Are Calling,” the Savatage influenced “Where’s Your God,” the varying tempos and overall structure of “The One” – great keys and solos here, the wonderfully old-school almost pop rock groove of “Until My Winter Comes,” and the obviously Iron Maiden inspired “Mark Of The Beast.”

The production and engineering are very good – the only flaw is that on rare occasion the vocals get buried by the music. The balance is generally good throughout, presenting each instrument clearly and cleanly. Refreshingly the album is not over-engineered like much modern metal – there is an underlying warmth and pleasant feel to all of the tracks.

All in all, Re-Forged is a solid effort from a veteran group, although with the number of personnel changes they’ve had Emerald is in many ways a new band. If they stabilize their lineup and grow a bit tighter in terms of songwriting they could be easily numbered among the best of the genre. Any fan of heavy metal will find much to like about this release.

Genre: Heavy Metal

Band:
Thomas Winkler (vocals)
Alex Spicher (drums)
Adriano Troiano (bass)
Michael Vaucher (guitars)
Manuel Werro (guitars)
Thomas Vaucher (keyboards)
Guest Musicians: Sean Peck (Cage), Mike Sifringer (Destruction), Mike Steel (Steelclad), Oromi Damir Eskic (Gonoreas)

Track Listing:
1. The Wanderer
2. The Last Legion
3. Pipes Are Calling
4. Where’s Your God
5. Alteration
6. Secret Agenda
7. The One
8. Witches Tower
9. Winterlude
10. Until My Winter Comes
11. Mark Of The Beast
12. Mutiny

Label: Pure Steel Records

Website: http://www.emerald.ch/ , http://www.myspace.com/emeraldch

Hardrock Haven rating: 7.5/10

Eternal Reign The Dawn of Reckoning

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Hailing from Germany, the Power Metal gents of Eternal Reign have just released their third studio album, called The Dawn of Reckoning. Unlike some other Power Metal bands from Germany, Eternal Reign is measurably more “Metal” than bands they may find themselves compared to in that genre, and they also go extremely light on the cheese-factor. In fact, there’s isn’t one — Eternal Reign is a multi-faceted and polished unit that is closer to Steel Attack than Hammerfall, and everything you like about the genre comes to light on The Dawn of Reckoning.

Many bands of this ilk open with an instrumental, and thankfully, “Drowned” isn’t one of them. Instead, it’s an ominous and flowing keyboard-led composition with vocals, and lead singer Dirk Stühmer can sing with emotion and melody, as is clear on every note he masterfully croons on “Drowned.” But this jets into the second song, “Beyond the Black,” and out comes the galloping, Maidenesque guitar leads from Michael Sebastian and Torsten Funfhaus and intense drumming from Lennart Medebach. The sheer heaviness of song is offset by Bjorn Meyer’s expert keyboards, sort of circulating in the background. Stühmer owns that sort of throaty and powerful voice you expect from this type of music, and he has range to spare. With tempo changes, breakdowns and emotive guitar leads, Eternal Reign impresses from the get-go.

“Shadows of the Past” is one of the fastest songs on The Dawn of Reckoning, and Jörg Hassel’s deft bass playing is off the charts. You don’t always notice a bassist when there is keys, two guitarists, drums and vocals joining the cacophony, but Hassel stands out here. Eternal Reign, for a Power Metal band, composes darker and heavier songs than their brethren, and it’s a welcome departure.

“Emptiness Devours” begins like a ballad, an atmospheric song with swirling keys, echoing vocals and again, Stühmer shines. But not even two minutes into it, cutting riffs take the song to an entirely new landscape. Triumphant and complex, “Emptiness Devours” is a strong example of Eternal Reign’s abilities.

If you like drums, well, listen to the inhuman sounds created by Medebach on “The Beast Within.” The drum blasts are both chaotic and precise, and the speed is machinelike. The best part about this song is the seemingly out of place guitar leads that accompany the verses; just because they are innovative doesn’t mean they don’t fit. Eternal Reign doesn’t write obviously straightforward songs—there’s a lot there to digest if you listen close enough.

Although this style of music isn’t typically a hit-making machine, “Devil and Daughter” is their best chance at writing a hit. The draw of this song is the catchy chorus and Stühmer reaching the near-limits of his range effortlessly on the bridge. His voice soars before the chorus, and the simple yet hypnotic chorus, “Devil and daughter, pleasure and pain … is this the end,” is the most memorable chorus on the entire release. (Update: Eternal Reign notified Hardrock Haven this is a cover from Black Sabbath’s The Headless Cross album.)

Eternal Reign comes full circle on the closing track, “Still Remains.” Just as The Dawn of Reckoning began with a soft, keyboard composition, so does it end. The clarity of the entire album is stellar, but to hear the pristine production efforts on “Still Remains” should make the biggest audiophile applaud.

The Dawn of Reckoning is, from start to finish, a grand album. If you have not yet caught on to Eternal Reign, this would be an excellent place to start. Not all Power Metal has to overloaded you with happiness and pomp; Eternal Reign goes to a somewhat darker side on this album, and this makes them stand out from the glut of Power Metal being recorded today.

Band:
Dirk Stühmer – vocals
Michael Sebastian – guitar
Torsten Fünfhaus – guitar
Jörg Hassel – bass
Björn Meyer – keys
Lennart Medebach – drums

Track listing:
1. Drowned
2. Beyond the Black
3. Lords of Chaos
4. Shadows of the Past
5. Emptiness Devours
6. Lost Clouds
7. Forgotten Sunrise
8. The Beast Within
9. Devil and Daughter
10. Gone Too Far
11. Still Remains

Online: www.myspace.com/eternalreignband

Label: Pure Steel Records

Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10

Rick Black of A Tortured Soul

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Lead singer Rick Black of A Tortured Soul checked in with Hardrock Haven to talk about the band’s brand new studio album Lucifer’s Fate; his 6-octave range; the band’s upcoming tour plans; what specific songs like “Dark Chapel” and the title track are all about; the songwriting process; and a hell of a lot more.

A Tortured Soul is one of the best underground bands you have yet to hear. Tune in now to get to know an amazing singer, and buy Lucifer’s Fate immediately thereafter.

Online: www.myspace.com/atorturedsoulmusic

(If the embedded player doesn’t populate, click here to stream the interview in a stand alone player.)

A Tortured Soul Lucifer’s Fate

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Part Metal Church, part Judas Priest, part King Diamond, you’ve got to give the gents of A Tortured Soul much respect for taking on an aggressive and seemingly impossible amalgam of Metal greatness and making it all work in the context of a single band. To do so, you need a dramatic, theatric and multi-octave singer who can scream castrato-level shrieks while also managing to hit the lower, gruff and more foreboding bass notes, and vocalist Rick Black does it with such aplomb you’d think the band actually features two different singers. You need to write songs that are dark in nature, that tell a story you want to hear, but that offer searing and complex leads and solos while being to tone it down acoustically and hauntingly, and A Tortured Soul’s guitarists Nate Gorenc and Ryne Schultz excel at all of the above. The band’s sophomore release, Lucifer’s Fate, somehow combines the nostalgia of the past with a fresh outtake on today’s Metal, creating music that’s both reminiscent yet innovative.

Instead of ripping into the silence with a track heavy and blistering, the slowest song on Lucifer’s Fate “Ritual” greets you when you hit play. Immediately, you’ll hear that Black is influenced by Rob Halford’s lower, controlled and menacing vocal style. When you hear phrases like, “The shotgun is my last goodbye,” and “Fill the coffin watch them rise,” all the Poe-tinged poetry is accompanied by a deft acoustic guitar piece that belies what you imagine A Tortured Soul is all about. This is no one-trick pony, far from it.

The title track is up next, and yes, they bring the heat now. “Lucifer’s Fate” is a monstrously heavy composition, with drummer Eric Gnant pounding mercilessly with double-bass blasts and machine-gun fills. “In hell they will stay, deceived by the master of lies. Slaves to the cross, I weep at your loss,” sings Black, in a cold, gruff and clearly unforgiving tone. Waves of Metal crash upon your skull, and then Black unleashes his King Diamond-like, utterly evil high vocal style. It’s not Dani Filth, shrieky, but clean and otherworldly, just like King Diamond. The tempo changes intelligently highlight the spoken-word passages—this is one hell of a Metal song.

“Eye of Ra” is the band’s first video for the new release, and unfortunately, it’s one of the less impressive tracks on the entire release. Where “Lucifer’s Fate” switches tempos and is just a mammoth song sonically and lyrically to digest, “Eye of Ra” is a monotonous journey that is too inflexible to deserve such a spotlight in comparison to everything else here.

A Tortured Soul doesn’t miss any tricks. “Dark Chapel” begins with a church bell, and you just know it is calling for a funeral. This time, the Judas Priest like guitar leads suck you in to the fevered pace, and Gnant’s inhuman power is flaunted on drums again. To get some insight into the visual and visceral lyrics, try on this passage: “Inside I see the cross, that hangs above the altar. That evil lurking as the demons tearing me apart. There is no god or devil, only this church of lies. No words of Christ are written, only the blood of sacrifice!” This should have been the first video, in other words …

When a singer like Black has the ability to nail all the high notes, it’s sometimes difficult to reign in that propensity to basically “show off.” But A Tortured Soul is smarter than that, and rarely overuses that vocal style. The one track that basically features Black’s higher vocals the entire way through is “Rust.” It’s tough to get a feel on if he is going full voice or falsetto at times, but it is clearly falsetto on the crazy high notes. The change when he drops into a guttural lower range is startling, and about the coolest thing you have heard from a band in forever. Seriously, how impressed are you by a guy who barks the whole album unintelligibly when you hear someone like Black sing in the Heavy Metal/Thrash/Black arena all in one album, sometimes on one song? There’s simply no contest.

Lucifer’s Fate ends on “Winterkill,” a song that is classic NWOBHM at times, showing the band’s roots as the track gallops along at nearly Power Metal speeds. Of course, like most of the compositions, the tempo changes and styles change to near Thrash and other times, Classic Metal passages. The guitar solo on “Winterkill” is bubbly, and would be near Neo-Classical if it wasn’t so brief and un-masturbatory.

A Tortured Soul is one of the more unique underground bands that, when judged by skill level and songwriting ability alone, deserve a chance to break into the mainstream Metal narrative. Although unpolished and mostly uncompromising, their music does more than just make you slam your head around, which is why you will find yourself getting into the music more and more each time you hit play.

Label: Pure Steel Records

Online: www.myspace.com/atorturedsoulmusic

Track listing:
01. Ritual
02. Lucifer’s Fate
03. Eye of Ra
04. Ashes to Ashes
05. Dark Chapel
06. Fallen
07. Rust
08. Reign
09. Winterkill

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.1/10

Commandment No Mercy

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Recorded in the fall of 1989, Commandment’s No Mercy is the band’s sophomore effort, one that never saw a true release, but is now, thanks to Pure Steel Records. Commandment was a Power Metal/Classic Metal band from the Chicago area that found regional success but ultimately, as with thousands of bands, the money tree stopped bearing fruit, the label went under, and thus, the music went silent. No Mercy features the original nine tracks as well as five demo songs, for the true fans out there.

Commandment plays a blazing sort of Heavy Metal and from the opening vocal notes of “Corrupted Youth,” you’ll hear their singer David Nava is as unique as the band’s sound. If you had to compare them to anyone, early Agent Steel might go part way in defining their sound. The guitarist JR3 is a maniac, with frantic leads, solos and riffs. Everything about “Corrupted Youth” screams with the adrenaline of a pissed-off metal head, and it’s fun as hell.

“Betrayed” lets loose with a Nava scream that is high and piercing, then flows into the verses. Although the production isn’t quite there, you’ll need to pay attention to the guitar leads under the cacophony. JR3 is one talented shredder. There isn’t much in the way of sing along choruses here; Nava shows off his range with his siren screams and you will have to be reminded of early Judas Priest as well.

Commandment doesn’t change pace often; it seems they are dead-set on scorching anthems that beg you to crack a few dozen beers and scream along. “No Mercy” is one of those anthems, heavy, with bloody razor riffs and immense guitar solos.

If you are into Iron Maiden, then you’ll like the rhythmic gallop of “Voice of the Sphynx.” The chorus here is the most memorable on the CD. When Nava sings, “Speak to me, tell me your secrets,” you will have to be shouting along. It’s the strongest song on No Mercy, and makes you long for more Commandment.

Luckily, on this version, you get it, with the demos. You will notice the sound quality immediately, but this kind of music needs to be unpolished and raw as possible, so it’s not a detriment unless you are some sort of stuck-up audiophile. “Law of the Streets” certainly could have fit on No Mercy; it sounds like many of the other tracks before it. So do the songs “Fire When Ready” and “On the Attack.”

The best demos are “Ivory Tower” and “Tears of Remembrance.” On “Ivory Tower,” it’s the first time the band does any speed other than Mach 1. Nava sounds like he barely has control on parts of the album, but here, on the slower opening verse, you can hear the growth. It goes a step further on “Tears of Remembrance.” This must have been about the time Queensryche was influencing bands like Heir Apparent and hundreds of others, because you’ll hear a “Take Hold of the Flame” vibe on this track. It seems Commandment was just coming into their own when they broke up, because with the tempo changes, more intricate pacing and obvious vocal improvements on “Tears of Remembrance,” they were clearly evolving for the better.

You will never be able to go back in time and hear all the bands you should have, but in this case, you can go back and hear Commandment. And you should.

Online: http://www.myspace.com/commandmenttheband  

Label: Pure Steel Records

Track listing:
1. Corrupted Youth
2. Betrayed
3. Road to Nowhere
4. Guitar Solo
5. The Cell
6. No Mercy
7. Holding On
8. Kamikaze
9. Voice of the Sphynx
10. Law of the Streets (demo)
11. Fire When Ready (demo)
12. Ivory Tower (demo)
13. Tears of Remembrance (demo)
14. On the Attack (demo)

Hardrock Haven rating: 7.6/10