Elmsfire
Thieves of the Sun

This quintet hails from Düsseldorf of Germany where it was formed in the latest millennium by guitarist Germano (very german name there) and Doro who has no relation to the warlock woman. 1999 was the year, a time when epic power metal was on the agenda for many and maybe also so for these guys as it is said that they are epic. But they started out playing much live, recording some demos and EPs and such before finally reaching a record deal with Massacre and now in 2012 releasing their debut album which is given the title Thieves of the Sun which is a bit of a strange title as the sun is not liveable so what kind of thieves are from there, or are they stealing the sun? Maybe it is just referring to thieves of a nation with lots of sunny days, it doesn’t really matter anyway. The cover art looks quite power metallic to my trained eye. So are they ready to conquer the world with their debut album? Lets find out.

Guitar-dominated delivering thrash, power and heavy metal with mystic- and fantasy lyrics, that is how they are marketed and why not? It is a decently fitting description of what it is even though the thrash thing could be removed. A way to see it could be imagining Blind Guardian with a good vocalist, that is about how it sounds. The sound is melodic and catchy yet quite powerful and with a hint of adventure spliced within the whole. I would say that it is a good sound, and the singer they use which is not the singer that is listed for the band as the one singing on the album is supposed to be a guest according to information I have managed to find on the net, he is rather good as well. The songs are eight where one is an intro with spoken words and such, these eight songs will require 44 minutes of your time to be played through.

This album have been quite well received judging by the reviews I have found with an average score of something slightly over 4/5 which would be a five or a six on our scale. I don’t really think I am ready to fall in line and praise this album that much, sure it deserves credit, it is a good album but it is not that good. For instance there is only one laugh in the face of death track which is the second track Worth a Tale which can be considered a hit song and one that gets you dancing on two broken legs. But what about the rest then? Ahab hunts his whale, that’s funny but the track is not brilliant. The ending title track is the worst on the album and albeit not being bad it is a forgetful track that doesn’t serve as a good sendoff for the album. The album is one of those good album that provides a moment of entertainment before being forgotten, one of those good albums that you forget when the music ends. That doesn’t mean it is bad but neither is it brilliant and I cannot help but feeling betrayed of something more, something that should have been there that wasn’t.

In the end I think that this is a good album, it is a debut and it has a great sound and vocals, it is not so long that you grow bored with it which is a strength today. And overall it is a good album that just doesn’t manage to leave any lasting impression in my mind. In the end I would say that the best way of describing and rating this is to say that they sound a bit like Blind Guardian but with a good singer.