Artist: Falconer
Label: Metal Blade
Release Date: 3/11/02
Rating: 3 Skulls
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Title: Chapters from a Vale Forlorn Artist: Falconer Label: Metal Blade Release Date: 3/11/02 Rating: 3 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Requiem (5/2/02):
While I have heard good things about this band from two good sources, I was slightly disappointed from the get go as I received both the debut and their new full length Chapters from a Vale of Forlorn recently. Maybe it's just that the power metal market is getting a bit saturated and most of it fails to impress for the most part. Or it could be that Falconer just dabble a little too heavily in the folky and overly majestic sounding moments. Overall it's good stuff, I can't write it off completely, but sometimes there's just too much in the syrup department resulting in too sweet of a taste for this guy. When they want to rock out in full blown heavy metal fashion however, they do just that.Although vocalist Mathias Blad can hold his own, and hold a proper note for that matter, I find his style rather bland and restrained. He does have his memorable and soulful moments, but his delivery stays in the mid register field which hinders the potential the music sometimes holds. The music also has its moments. Half the album embodies some heavy metal worthy moments; the other half is borderline ballad/soft rock material, which sounds like suitable material for a fairy tale sound track. If the Pied Piper were to pick a heavy metal tune to captivate his followers, "Lament of a Minstrel" would be an ideal choice. But the following track, "For Life and Liberty," rocks full throttle with thunderous double bass and some crafty guitar work. Falconer can rock like Hammerfall on their good moments and sound like a more lethargic and stripped down Rhapsody on their weaker ones. I was hoping I would love this band, but it just ain't happening.
Falconer have potential, but I think there's some work to be done before they get to praiseworthy status. They ride the line of mediocrity pretty consistently while bouncing above and below from time to time. I think their hard rockin' moments highly outweigh the ballads so maybe they should put the pedal to the metal and speed away with some power metal classics. Vocalist Mathias should possibly exert himself a bit more and try cranking out a high note every now and then. The overall mid range of the band just leaves things incomplete. The debut has a bit more fuel than this one so it may be good to start with that and then give this a shot. Just as some foods can be termed as filler, so can Chapters..., it gets you full and it's pretty good, but that's about it.
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