Review Lord Volture - Never Cry Wolf 2011

Tracks
01. Never Cry Wolf
02. Taiga
03. Wendigo
04. Celestial Bodies Fall
05. Korgon's Descent
06. Minutes to Madness
07. Necro Nation
08. I am King
09. Into the Lair of a Lion
10. Brother
11. The Wolf at your Door

Band:
David Marcelis - lead & backing vocals
Paul Marcelis - lead, rhythm & acoustic guitars, backing vocals
Leon Hermans - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Simon Geurts - bass, backing vocals
Frank Wintermans - drums, backing vocals

Discography:
Beast Of Thunder (2010)

Guests:
Sean Peck - vocals on 'Into the Lair of a Lion'
Mark Bogert - guitar solo on 'Minutes to Madness'
Sinem Cangir, Yuma van Eekelen and Bart Hennephof - backing vocals

Info:
Music and lyrics by David Marcelis, music in 'Brother' by Paul Marcelis and David Marcelis
Produced and mixed by Bart Hennephof, Yuma van Eekelen and Lord Volture
Mastered by Bart Hennephof and Yuma van Eekelen Recorded at Excess Studio, Rotterdam and Final Focus Studio, Tilburg
Artwork by Bas Wijers

Released 11/11-2011
Reviewed 13/11-2011

Links:
lordvolture.com
myspace
youtube
bandcamp
last-fm
soundcloud
rock'n'growl

Never cry wolf, that is what dutch metal band Lord Volture is stating with their recent album which is their second album, an album the sports a really cool cover artwork which at least feels inviting to me. Lord Volture is often compared to the big names of the US power metal, bands like Iced Earth, Jag Panzer etc. are often mentioned in comparison, at least it says so in the information that accompanies the album. I haven’t read any reviews so I don’t know if it is true but the ratings that were revealed on the band’s website would indicate that the reception for this album have been rather average, I have no prior experience with this band so when I was going at it I had no idea what to expect more than that there would be some animals, some on the Taiga and other ones at the door. There are both wolves and lions present as well as a singer proclaiming to be king despite the fact that he is already a lord, kind of fun stuff going on in the titles I would say, not that I was actually looking that much at those before I started listening to this album.

Musically it is as the promotional information suggests, power metal that is similar to the one of the american school. That means heavier and slightly less melodic that the european version of that same genre, the singer is also not as fine tuned and clean but more aggressive with more power. If you know bands like Iced Earth, Jag Panzer, Cage or any other US power you kind of get the picture, Wizard or Paragon are European band that can be said to be rather similar as well. So as you now see me as very knowledgeable in the genre as I can count band names, you will now trust my judgement of the eleven tracks that this album has. But returning to the music again, it is energetic and powerful I think you could say. The tempo of all songs are quite similar and you can actually say that the songs falls within a very limited frame of reference when it comes to the stylistic piece. The production is good, not overly fantastic or groundbreaking but I would say that it is adequate for the genre even if the sound of this band won’t raise any eyebrows. One more thing you cannot accuse the band of being is innovative as the music they do have been heard many times before especially by US bands but also by European bands that often have a tendency to call themselves true or the likes of that. The eleven tracks on the very nicely packaged album requires a little over one hour to be played in its entirety.

What about the quality of this album then? Well it is a rather good album, the songs are good, no downer tracks and the musicianship is also quite good and I don’t see any real weak points on a purely musical level. I think that the opening title track is a great opener and a really good song with a bit of melody and catchiness, Track three Wendigo and track six Minutes to Midnight are two other tracks that attaches themselves to my mind after hearing the album. So overall I would say that this is a good album, as all the tracks are good and all of that.

At the same time it is more than one hour long and it is a power metal album, that is rarely a working combination if you want to make a really good album. You need to pull something really good out of your magical hat to be able to entertain for over an hour of this kind of music, and what Lord Volture manages to pull out of their hats are rabbits which are rather rapidly eaten by the wolves which makes the album feel rather long. It does feel like that because the analogy of the rabbit was to show that the album lacks in variation and perhaps also imagination, the songs are all quite similar and when listening to an album of similar styled music for over an hour it tends to be a bit dreary, you tend to loose interest when you have heard similarly styled music for more than 40 or 45 minutes. I think the long playing time is enough for me to lower the rating by one step, if they had allowed the wolves or maybe the lion to kill some darlings or maybe even a king I think it would have been worth a five H rating.

So in the end I think this album by Lord Volture is another one of those albums that are quite good but they end up being quite average thanks to the bands inability to kill darlings, hence to stop in time before it gets tedious. That makes it just another good but too long album.

HHHHHHH

Lord Volture Never Cry Wolf

Lord Volture
Never Cry Wolf