Isla de Muerta Ten - (2015)
I'm a huge fan of this widely unregarded band, yet their recent releases have generally failed to instil in me the fire and passion that their earlier material did. In fact, the last Ten album I could call really great was 2005's
The Twilight Chronicles, and while they did impress with 2012's
Heresy and Creed, even then I was reaching a little. I've yet to hear the previous year's
Albion, though what I've heard from it has given me hope that they may have regained the sparkle that characterised albums such as
Return to Evermore, Babylon and
Far Beyond the World. Will this, their latest, continue that upward trend? I see the succession of silly covers goes on; these guys don't do themselves any favours with their choice of cover art. The older albums were blander in general, but at least they didn't make you want to roll your eyes. Ah well, on we go.
1. Buccaneers/Dead Men Tell No Tales: This is the second album, but the first I've heard, to feature a quad-guitar attack, with Gary Hughes and John Halliwell backed up now by two “new” guys (they joined for the previous album, so they're new to me at this point), Steve Grocott and Dann Rosingana. The instrumental beginning is certainly nothing to get excited about, typical Ten instrumental and as it happens mostly driven on keys. They're what usher in the first actual track too; have to say it sounds a lot like “Albion Born” off the previous album. Meh, for a band with four guitars to draw on they don't seem to capitalise on this, not so far anyway. A decent song, but it's hardly blowing me away or making me think of classic Ten. All told, fairly weak opener.
2. Revolution: Kind of an almost industrial sound to this, and maybe they're about to use the power of multi-guitars here? Well, if anything this reminds me of Gary Hughes's solo work on the double concept album
Once and Future King. Better than the opener though, kicks a little life into proceedings. I can hear the guitars getting into it now.
3. Acquiesce: This has a good sense of fun and almost poppy rock to it, certainly more in the AOR than hard rock vein. Good keyboard runs and some decent guitar; kind of a sense almost of seventies rock too. First decent proper guitar solo here. No idea who's playing it though.
4. The Dragon and Saint George: Good hard rocker to start things off, with that unmistakable Ten sound I've enjoyed over ten albums now (two yet to be sampled) and the vocals from Gary Hughes coupled with new guitarists (well, new to me) Dann Rosingana and Steve Grocutt backing up John Helliwell making a powerful combination. Peppy keys from Darrell Trees-Birch add the expected flair to the song. It's not, to be fair, a classic Ten song, but it doesn't come close to the disappointment I suffered with
Stormwarning.
5. Intensify: Now this sounds very familiar: sort of reminds me of “Evil's On Top of the World”. Good hook in the chorus though. Probably one of the best so far, which, given that it sounds so much like a previous song, is not really good. Still, I guess I'll take what I can get at this point. Sigh. It never used to be like this.
6. This Love:Oh here we go! If there's one thing Gary and Ten do well it's ballads, and here's the first, and it does not disappoint. Almost worth the price of the album by itself. It has everything: great piano line, soft synth, the trademark Ten vocal harmonies and I assume ... yes, there it is, a soaring guitar solo. Formulaic, I guess, but I love Ten ballads, and their albums would not be the same without at least one. Oh, that
has cheered me up. Now let's see if we can keep this mood, although...
7. Karnak/The Valley of the Kings: Ten do tend to use a lot of Egyptian motifs in their lyrics, and I have to be honest, it's getting a little tiresome. The instrumental that precedes the track is just what you'd expect – just, in fairness, what you'd expect from
any band who want to convey an Egyptian feeling in their music, from Rainbow to Maiden – while the song itself rocks along, though with perhaps a little too much of a nod to “Powerslave”. Meh, it's okay I suppose.
8. Tell Me What to Do: Some nice peppy keyboard driving this, and it settles down into a nice funky groove quickly. Another great hook in the chorus. I like this. I like this a lot. The false ending is great.
9. Angel of Darkness: Going back to the harder and heavier style for this one, really kicking it. This is why Ten sometimes get called a melodic metal band, though I would never claim they were any such thing. It's the heaviest track so far though, that can't be denied. Good strong ending, when it seemed it was going to fade out.
10. The last pretender: Keeping things powerful and heavy, with definite elements of “Ten Fathoms Deep” from
The Robe. I've actually heard this one before, on a playlist. It's decent enough, if a little derivative.
11. Assault and battery: On the European version the closer is “We Can Be As One”, which also featured on the
Dragon and Saint George EP, but here I seem to have the Japanese version, which gives us this track instead. So we sacrifice the second ballad for a fast rocker (as if you couldn't tell from the title!) which, while it's good, I feel slightly unbalances the album. What's the Japanese's problem with love songs, huh? Not the closer I would have preferred.
Time was when you could hear a new Ten album and it would be just that: new. It does seem now though that Gary and the boys are looking too much to the past, basically cherry-picking a lot of elements from classic albums and hammering them into new tracks that then don't sound new. As has been the case for me for some time, while I don't hate this album I can't say I love it, and I remain a little disappointed at how unadventurous Ten are being, and how they seem to be content, to a large degree, to not quite phone it in, but maybe Facetime it. Whatever that is. I've heard that's a thing. Is that a thing? Anyway, there doesn't seem to be too much creativity left, which is a pity, as these guys used to be one of my favourite bands. They're still up there, but seem to be doing all they can to step down the ladder.