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Trollheart · 10-28-2013, 06:11 AM

Outshine the sun --- Neonfly --- 2011 (Rising Records)

A silly name certainly but from what I heard before I bought the album this band's music is anything but silly. Hailing from London, they've only been together since 2007 and this is their first full album, but seems to be a pretty decent debut. "Broken wings" gets us started with a fast, powerful, uptempo rocker and one of the hallmarks of power metal, catchy hooks and melodies. Willy Norton is a good vocalist and both the guitarists earn their wages, as Frederick Thunder (his real name?) and Patrick Harrington (his too, golf fans!) put in a fine shift, sharing the plethora of solos between them.

Keeping things fast "The enemy" rocks along with a super guitar riff running through it, and a thick little bass opening to "Ship with no sails" which then takes off on what appears to be a piano melody, though no keyboard player is credited. Nice little eastern-tinged riff in it, and "The revenant" is a real rockalong track, with an anthemic chorus. Nice slide guitar to open "The ornament" before it fires off in high gear, and those have to be keyboards. Turns out to be a rather powerful instrumental, nice change of pace. Speaking of a change of pace, there's piano and violin as "Reality shift" gets going, with some fine guitar interplay between Thunder and Harrington and great vocal harmonies.

Really nice slow neoclassical instrumental in the middle with piano, cello and guitar then it ramps back up as it hammers towards the end of the song, ushering in "Spitting blood", which I'm gonna go out on a limb and say is not going to be a ballad with a title like that! There's actually an ominous, dark feel about it even when it hits into top speed, then we get sitar, piano and fiddle (!) in "Morning star" and it certainly sounds like female backing vocals in the chorus, though again not credited. Excellent acapella ending. Big dramatic sound to "The messenger", with lush, deep synth and piano, a passionate and strong vocal from Willy Norton and a sudden explosion of speed and guitar histrionics about halfway through, that takes the song almost into its last minute. Pealing bells and harpsichordal keyboard with violin finishes a near-perfect job.

And there's still one track to go. The rather silly title "I think I saw a UFO" is about --- anyone? Yeah. It's okay but frankly after the sublime "The messenger" it's a bit of a letdown and not what I would call a decent song to close the album on.

TRACKLISTING

1. Broken wings
2. The enemy
3. Ship with no sails
4. A gift to remember
5. The revenant
6. The ornament
7. Reality shift
8. Spitting blood
9. Morning star
10. The messenger
11. I think I saw a UFO

To be honest, I remember the sample impressing me more than the album now does. I mean, it's a good album but I feel a little disappointed considering how the samples struck me. Maybe I was expecting too much --- you can't get that much from a sixty-second example of a song after all --- but the end product, though not at all bad, seems to fall a little short of what I had expected. A little generic in some ways, a few good ideas not properly explored but a few really good tracks.

So in the end, I'd have to say a good, perhaps very good album, but not a great album, and certainly failing to live up to the expectations in its title.

Read more here http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Neonfly/3540261191

10-28-2013, 06:11 AM	#2005 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Outshine the sun --- Neonfly --- 2011 (Rising Records) A silly name certainly but from what I heard before I bought the album this band's music is anything but silly. Hailing from London, they've only been together since 2007 and this is their first full album, but seems to be a pretty decent debut. "Broken wings" gets us started with a fast, powerful, uptempo rocker and one of the hallmarks of power metal, catchy hooks and melodies. Willy Norton is a good vocalist and both the guitarists earn their wages, as Frederick Thunder (his real name?) and Patrick Harrington (his too, golf fans!) put in a fine shift, sharing the plethora of solos between them. Keeping things fast "The enemy" rocks along with a super guitar riff running through it, and a thick little bass opening to "Ship with no sails" which then takes off on what appears to be a piano melody, though no keyboard player is credited. Nice little eastern-tinged riff in it, and "The revenant" is a real rockalong track, with an anthemic chorus. Nice slide guitar to open "The ornament" before it fires off in high gear, and those have to be keyboards. Turns out to be a rather powerful instrumental, nice change of pace. Speaking of a change of pace, there's piano and violin as "Reality shift" gets going, with some fine guitar interplay between Thunder and Harrington and great vocal harmonies. Really nice slow neoclassical instrumental in the middle with piano, cello and guitar then it ramps back up as it hammers towards the end of the song, ushering in "Spitting blood", which I'm gonna go out on a limb and say is not going to be a ballad with a title like that! There's actually an ominous, dark feel about it even when it hits into top speed, then we get sitar, piano and fiddle (!) in "Morning star" and it certainly sounds like female backing vocals in the chorus, though again not credited. Excellent acapella ending. Big dramatic sound to "The messenger", with lush, deep synth and piano, a passionate and strong vocal from Willy Norton and a sudden explosion of speed and guitar histrionics about halfway through, that takes the song almost into its last minute. Pealing bells and harpsichordal keyboard with violin finishes a near-perfect job. And there's still one track to go. The rather silly title "I think I saw a UFO" is about --- anyone? Yeah. It's okay but frankly after the sublime "The messenger" it's a bit of a letdown and not what I would call a decent song to close the album on. TRACKLISTING 1. Broken wings 2. The enemy 3. Ship with no sails 4. A gift to remember 5. The revenant 6. The ornament 7. Reality shift 8. Spitting blood 9. Morning star 10. The messenger 11. I think I saw a UFO To be honest, I remember the sample impressing me more than the album now does. I mean, it's a good album but I feel a little disappointed considering how the samples struck me. Maybe I was expecting too much --- you can't get that much from a sixty-second example of a song after all --- but the end product, though not at all bad, seems to fall a little short of what I had expected. A little generic in some ways, a few good ideas not properly explored but a few really good tracks. So in the end, I'd have to say a good, perhaps very good album, but not a great album, and certainly failing to live up to the expectations in its title. Read more here http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Neonfly/3540261191 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 11-01-2013 at 01:32 PM.