Music Banter - View Single Post - Bitesize: Trollheart's Daily Album Mini-Reviews

Trollheart · 08-06-2012, 03:10 PM

A shadow falls...

Artiste: Shadowland
Nationality: Swedish
Album: Falling
Year: 2007
Label: Germusica
Genre: Progressive metal
Tracks
Can you tell me
Turn back home
Falling
Perfection
Don't turn this love into hate
Same old muddy roads
Justice with my hands
In the end
Turn back time
Don't chain my heart
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero.
Interesting Factoid: There's very little interesting about this album.
Initial Impression: Meh
Best track(s): Hard to choose one, not because they're all so good, but because it really is hard to pick out one that qualifies as better, in a slew of pretty mediocre songs. Falling isn't bad I guess. I'd probably rate Don't chain my heart too, but that's about it.
Worst track(s): Too many to count, sadly.
Comments: Starts off a bit confusing, with some sort of strange broadcast noises: almost thought my copy was corrupt! But it quickly settles and there's some good melodic metal in there, quite a commercial/radio feel to some of it and yet heavy enough to appeal to those into pure metal. No keyboard player is mentioned, but either the guitarist is really good or there's someone on keys, because there are very keys-oriented sounds on many of the tracks, especially the title and In the end, though I must admit I find the chorus on Perfection a little grating, kind of ruins what otherwise is a pretty good song, particularly when the vocalist seems to be singing “Pro-fection”, whatever that is!

There's an impressive Wanted dead or alive-style intro to Same old muddy roads, and it rocks out well, but the first two words do kind of apply to this album, and although it's not bad I'm not seeing anything that lifts it to the level of great, or even special. Heard it all before, unfortunately. It's decent metal, it's got its share of melody --- don't really see the progressive element in it, to be honest --- but it's nothing I haven't heard a hundred times before, and often much better. Some websites have waxed lyrical about this album, some even claiming it “album of the year”. I just don't see it, personally.
Overall impression: Meh
Intention: Avoid this band in future.

08-06-2012, 03:10 PM	#43 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,971	A shadow falls... Artiste: Shadowland Nationality: Swedish Album: Falling Year: 2007 Label: Germusica Genre: Progressive metal Tracks Can you tell me Turn back home Falling Perfection Don't turn this love into hate Same old muddy roads Justice with my hands In the end Turn back time Don't chain my heart Chronological position: Debut album Familiarity: Zero. Interesting Factoid: There's very little interesting about this album. Initial Impression: Meh Best track(s): Hard to choose one, not because they're all so good, but because it really is hard to pick out one that qualifies as better, in a slew of pretty mediocre songs. Falling isn't bad I guess. I'd probably rate Don't chain my heart too, but that's about it. Worst track(s): Too many to count, sadly. Comments: Starts off a bit confusing, with some sort of strange broadcast noises: almost thought my copy was corrupt! But it quickly settles and there's some good melodic metal in there, quite a commercial/radio feel to some of it and yet heavy enough to appeal to those into pure metal. No keyboard player is mentioned, but either the guitarist is really good or there's someone on keys, because there are very keys-oriented sounds on many of the tracks, especially the title and In the end, though I must admit I find the chorus on Perfection a little grating, kind of ruins what otherwise is a pretty good song, particularly when the vocalist seems to be singing “Pro-fection”, whatever that is! There's an impressive Wanted dead or alive-style intro to Same old muddy roads, and it rocks out well, but the first two words do kind of apply to this album, and although it's not bad I'm not seeing anything that lifts it to the level of great, or even special. Heard it all before, unfortunately. It's decent metal, it's got its share of melody --- don't really see the progressive element in it, to be honest --- but it's nothing I haven't heard a hundred times before, and often much better. Some websites have waxed lyrical about this album, some even claiming it “album of the year”. I just don't see it, personally. Overall impression: Meh Intention: Avoid this band in future. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 01-13-2015 at 05:35 AM.