I've always had a soft spot for
Power Quest, I remember seeing them live supporting
Helloween in 2006 and enjoying their light, airy take on power metal. It took me a while to track down some of their albums but once I got my hands on them I enjoyed them immensely.
I was then saddened by the news a couple of years back that singer Alessio Garavello had left the band. His voice was as camp as his stage presence and really worked well with
Power Quest's uplifting music. Following Alessio's departure, the group went through a myriad of line up changes before founder Steve Williams settled on Andy Midgley and Gav Owen on guitar, Paul Finnie on bass, Rich Smith on drums and most intriguingly, silver voiced Sri Lanken Chity Somapala on vocals (previously known for his work with several bands including Firewind).
I was interested to see how this change of musicians and most importantly singer would affect the bands musical output. After all Chity's vocals have a more traditional hard rock sound to them then Alessio's high pitched, youthful squeals.
Power Quest's music has always had a hard rock dimension to it, but would this new singer take the music too far away from their power metal grounding?
I'm pleased to report that despite a notable hard rock edge, the new release
Blood Alliance still contains all those galloping rhythms, uplifting melodies, key changes and shred solos that you would expect given the bands track record.
Opening with the short speedy instrumental
Battle Stations we are then thrown headfirst into the guitar wails of
Rising Anew. As soon as Chity opens his mouth to deliver the opening line of
"I've seen the writing on the wall, believe me" you will be hooked on the intoxicating, sugary rush of the band's music.
For anyone not familiar with the group's history and previous work I should get the obvious comparison out of the way first of all. You will find much in this bands music that is comparable to a little group called Dragonforce. Now before you all complain that this is a very easy reference to pull out the bag, not only is it true but also things go a bit deeper than that. Keyboard player Steve Williams played in Dragonheart (who you may have guessed went on to become Dragonforce) and 'Force guitarist Sam Totman played on their first release Wings Of Forever.
The pleasing thing about Blood Alliance is that it retains that vital, joyous spark that has been absent from Dragonforce's music for too long. In fact, this record is stronger than the last half of DF's recorded output and never falls into the "long-winded instrumental section" trap.
Just take a listen to
Glorious (or indeed any song on the album) and you will get the image of a band having the time of their lives recording it. Each little guitar part or drum fill layered into the music seems to coax you further into the bands realm with a smile and a wink, as if its saying
"Yes we know its silly, yes we know it's cheesy but it's fucking fun!" And if you want some fun then there are two tracks that will make you party in different but equally enjoyable ways.
Survive is a non-stop dash down an empty highway, pedal to the floor, caution to the wind with a maniacal grin plastered to the face. It's got that Maiden vibe but with a cranked up speed level that you associate with all the best power metal.
The following track is perhaps a surprise favourite of mine,
Better Days. It's the most out and out melodic, arena rock song on the album and is just fantastic. It's stomping, mid-paced rhythm is guaranteed to leave a smile on your face with a sing-along chorus and some wonderful melodic guitar licks. Again it's cliché ridden as hell, but who cares!
By far the strangest track on the album is it's centrepiece
Crunching The Numbers,
a song about the recent downturn in the world's economy and the hardship's felt by everyday people. It's keyboard heavy beginning and verses are fairly in keeping with the rest of the album but the lyrics are underpinned with a sense of hurt at the economic situation. This dose of realism is initially slightly jarring but not as jarring as the transition from the bridge to chorus in the song, it sounds like they forced a melody from The Black Halo era
Kamelot into the start of the chorus not caring if it's suitable or not. The surrounding song itself is fine but I can't work out where this chorus came from and why it's there. Still it's the only major misstep on the album so I can't be too hard on it.
You would probably guess by the title that
Only In My Dreams is another hard rock number and you wouldn't be wrong. It's the weakest of the three rockers but it's still got a great chorus where Chity soars on the
"Hold me now and stay forever" line.
Last track
City Of Lies rounds of the album perfectly with its excellently executed music and elegant chorus. Like the rest of the album the strength and variety of the musicianship on this song will not fail to impress. It ends on a piano outro which revisits the musical theme of the song
Power Quest from way back on the bands debut record.
This is a very fine album indeed, which will hopefully do the band and UK power/traditional metal scene the world of good.
Power Quest are due a bit of a breakthrough and this record has the poise and grace needed to help them take a few more steps up the power metal rankings.
Written by
Stuart Thursday, June 2, 2011
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