Rage - End Of All Days (1996)

Rage continues to power along with another collection of sometimes good songs but, although it's a bit slower than normal, overall they seem to be treading water, with not much that is new.  Such tracks as "End Of All Days", "Visions", "Frozen Fire" and "Face Behind The Mask" are good, but there's a bit too much of it here, and there's not enough variety to really make it an enthralling listen.

***

Artension - Into The Eye Of The Storm (1996)

Artension is the baby of classicaly-trained keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij (also principle songwriter), and his background really shows through this debut album.  It's an adequate more than rivetting listen, but it's Kuprij's work that really shines, especially on the instrumental "Red's Recovery" although, at seven minutes, it's a bit too long.
It's not really all that power metalish, or progressive either (in which they are also grouped), as well as not terribly memorable, but we'll see how they go from here.

**1/2

Iced Earth - The Dark Saga (1996)

Iced Earth's fourth album focuses on the comic book character "Spawn", in a battle against evil, and is somewhat more musically straightforward than previous efforts; there aren't any excessively long songs here (the concluding "A Question Of Heaven" is the longest, clocking in at just over seven minutes - it's also the best), and there's not a lot of speed either.
Iced Earth hasn't thrilled me so far, and this record doesn't either, but it's still quite good, and the dark lyrics are reasonable and add to the experience.

***

Grave Digger - Tunes Of War (1996)

Grave Digger fire again with this very enjoyable album, as they go through the history of Scottish rebellion against England, from the 11th Century to the 18th and the Jacobite struggle.  Opening with a rendition of "Scotland The Brave" (led by bagpipes, of course), this is a lot of fun, despite its grim subject matter, with such songs as "Scotland United", "The Dark Of The Sun", "The Bruce", "The Truth" and "Killing Time" amongst their best and most catchy work.  I can never let a Digger review go by without a reference to Chris Boltendahl's vocals - I suppose I'm quite used to him by now, although he'll never rate anywhere near my favourites, but it's the fenetic playing and grabbing music that makes Tunes Of War a top listen.

****

Manowar - Louder Than Hell (1996)

So what's Manowar up to now? Well, they've decided on a somewhat more straightforward metal attack than their last couple of efforts, but they haven't changed their statements on being tough biker dudes (the opening, profanity-laden "Return Of The Warlord") and, of course, on the greatness of heavy metal (the following two songs, "Brothers Of Metal Pt 1" and "The Gods Made Heavy Metal")... and so it goes on.
The nine minute instrumental near the end, "Today Is A Good Time To Die", is long and dull, while the concluding "The Power" just becomes stupidly obnoxious, but there's much to like here for unashamed metal fans.

***

Stratovarius - Episode (1996)

Stratovarius' fifth album was the first with keyboardist Jens Johansson and drummer Jorg Michael, and this line-up would stay together for a number of years afterwards. Unfortunately, despite many saying this is when the 'real' Stratovarius arrived, I find Episode a bit disappointing.
It starts off great with "Father Time", a true, flying, power metal classic, but it becomes a bit cumbersome in places afterwards - only "Tomorrow" shows a similar, freewheeling spirit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying every song has to be super fast with soaring choruses - it would get boring if that was the case. But the different styles they do try here just don't work all that well.  Songs like "Babylon" are interesting, but not good enough for me to enthuse over.
A shame, but I certainly hope for better still to come from this Finnish group.

***

Angra - Holy Land (1996)

Three years after their very impressive debut ANGELS CRY, Angra returned with this even more impressive release.  A concept album based on the discovery of Brazil in the 16th Century, this is a complex, rich and very rewarding piece of work; metal to be sure, but not always, as they incorporate various Brazillian rhythms into the music.  "Nothing To Say" is close to straight power metal, while the ten-minute track "Carolina IV" leans more to the progressive side, but it all comes together beautifully.  There is much to be discovered here on this release from a very talented, skillful and dignified band.

****1/2

Labyrinth - No Limits (1996)

"Labyrinth" is a great name for a power metal band, and this Italian one has eventually become very popular.  Featuring quite a heavy use of keyboards (the mostly instrumental "Vertigo" almost sounds like it could have come from a dance floor; rather like The Chemical Brothers going metal), this debut, the only one to feature Fabio Lione on vocals before he worked with other bands like Rhapsody, is interesting at times, but not terribly inspiring. Me being a child of the eighties, I like the electronic touches, but the melodies aren't really there, which seemed to be the way with several bands who started around this time, like Paragon and Kamelot (I'll give Nocturnal Rites and Skylark a couple of higher notches than them).
As far as I know, better is to come from Labyrinth. We'll see.

**

Helloween - The Time Of The Oath (1996)

1996 starts with the continued comeback of Helloween. The previous MASTER OF THE RINGS certainly saw them coming back on track, and this album (based on the prophecies of Nostradamus, and the first with drummer Uli Kusch) confirms it.  I'm not overly excited by the opening couple of songs, but it picks up with "Wake Up The Mountain", while the powerful but still gentle ballad "Forever And One (Neverland)" is good, and I get a bit of a kick out of the childishly rebellion song "Anything My Mama Don't Like". I've never been a big fan of these German chaps in the first place, but The Time Of The Oath (which is dedicated to former drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg, who threw himself in front of a subway train in 1995) is certainly as good as anything they've done thus far.

****

White Skull - I Won't Burn Alone (1995)

White Skull are an Italian metal band with the unusual novelty (for the time) of having a female leading singer, Federica "Sister" De Boni.  I haven't been able to find any CDs of their first couple of albums, but have started collecting later ones, and have listened to this one on YouTube.
It's reasonable, without being anything oustanding, with a somewhat "echoey" sound which is rather effective - the material just has to be somewhat better.

**1/2

Virgin Steele - The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell Part 2

In the land of filmdom, it's pretty much accepted that sequels are rarely as good as the originals.  Well, power metal is a musical genre that just loves sequels, the first "series" being Helloween's KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS in the eighties (for what it's worth, I thought the first was better than the second), and we now have Virgin Steele here and, on this occasion, they have topped the first Heaven And Hell album.
Despite all the Greek mythology mixed in (it seems) with touches of Christianity, and David Defeis' starting to overdo his snarling singing, this is excellent stuff, with deft touches throughout, and power to burn.  It's hard to single out many songs, but the ten-minute ballad "Emalaith" is worthy, and two of the best rockers are left until towards the end (rather like Heaven And Hell Part 1), "Unholy Water" and the knockout "Victory Is Mine", although it sounds like evil triumphs.  Then again, this is not the end of the story. After a three year break, Virgin Steele returned in 1998 to conclude their fantasy dramas between Heaven and Hell.

****1/2

Nocturnal Rites - In A Time Of Blood And Fire (1995)

I was a bit hesitant about starting to collect Nocturnal Rites work, since they have been listed as a death metal band, as well as power, and the cover of this debut seems to support that, but, as it turns out, there is no death stuff here.
Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of outstanding power either. It's quite listenable, but not awfully memorable; one song moves into the other without much variation or enough melodious quality to show for it.  Overall, it's just not very remarkable.  However, it's certainly not a bad release, so I'll contine to stick with them and see how they go.

**1/2

Symphony X - The Damnation Game (1995)

Symphony X's second album has a new vocalist in Russell Allen, who sounds a bit like Ronnie James Dio, and shows pleasing progression from their debut.  Consistent melodies enhance such songs as "Dressed To Kill", "The Edge Of Forever" and the ballad "Whispers", while the playing is good.  It certainly has progressive elements, but not overly complex.
Definitely a very good listen here.

****

Skylark - The Horizon & The Storm (1995)

Yep, I'm ready to listen to as many power metal bands as possible, no matter how obscure. And I really don't know a lot about this Italian group.
They are a six-piece (for this debut anyway), and the driving force is the very talented keyboardist, and songwriter, Eddy Antonini, who is adept at piano and harpiscord, as well as the usual electronic keyboards, and they blend in well with the guitars, producing some nice symphonic music.
However, they also have vocalist Fabio Dozzo.  Yesterday, I wrote that Royal Hunt had one of the best voices around in D.C. Cooper. Well, Skylark goes to the other end of the spectrum here. Dozzo is dreadful. He hardly manages to get tunes out at all half the time, and when he does, he misses as many notes as he hits. This record, which is just a short effort at about 35 minutes, is reasonable, but could have been much better if fronted by someone who could actually carry a tune.
There's promise here but, Skylark, find a vocalist who actually has vocals!

**1/2