STORMHOLD - Tales Of Astraal (4tr CDR)

Stormhold is another new band following in the trails of the classic Swedish wave of eighties heavy metal and bands like Steelwing, Enforcer etc., but with the addition of a folksy touch, a bit similar to bands like The Storyteller and Falconer. This shows quite clearly already in the intro The Legacy. Legion Of The Brave rocks it up in the vein of the aforementioned bands. The band sounds good, even though I can’t say they bring anything new to the table. If you don’t, you better do what you do damned great. To be honest, the band does a really good job, but to me I feel this has been done so many times, and slightly better in many cases. The songs are good, the musicians do their job very well, too. The vocals are usually the weak link. I’ve heard much worse, and they are by no means bad, it’s just that, if you want to stick out and rise above the rest in this genre, you better tick all the boxes, and I’m afraid the vocals is one box that’s not ticked for me. Especially in Godric Hammerfist I feel the song lacks a bit from inadequate vocal power and clarity. Westybay starts off sounding quite Iron Maiden influenced and musically it does kick ass. Still, it does fail to really impress me. Again, I’m afraid it’s the vocals that doesn’t hit the mark for me. The production is quite ok, very analogue and retro, which fits the genre, but they could probably push it up a few notches, especially the drum sound. Quite promising despite the flaws if you’re a fan of classic retro metal.
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Year: 2012
Label: none (CD-R demo)