• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

In my review for The Dogma's Black Roses, I said that the public was generally very good at ignoring things of quality, and that it pertained sadly to much of the metal scene, too. You know, since I'm sure so many people pay attention to my reviews anyway. Well, in case you did, that applies to Chile's very own Power Metal maestros Bloden Wedd, too. Bloden Wedd are a straightforward, clean-cut Power Metal band in the mold of Iron Maiden and Gamma Ray and mid-era Helloween, and while that doesn't sound too original, these guys do manage to inject their own special charisma and personality into it.

The thing with most modern Power Metal that people don't seem to get is that its biggest strengths are its happy, jubilant mood, the high pitched vocals, the uplifting, energetic chorus lines and the Speed Metal riffs that go so exquisitely well with the saccharine keyboard melodies and double bass drumming. When you try to restrain all of that to create a more "serious" album, you get stinkers like Cryonic Temple's last album, and everything Pyramaze has ever penned, and you just don't want to go there, because it all sucks, without exception. Power Metal, and metal in general, has always been about extremities, and restraining them is the wrong way to go. That is where Bloden Wedd succeed, as Eye of Horus is over-the-top even from the first sight of the excellent cover art, and they match it with such good songwriting that you never get the feeling that this is too cheesy or lame or any of the other things that may happen with lesser Power Metal.

Bloden Wedd keep the focus on the guitars and the vocals, as metal should be, and they write catchy, kinetic songs that never stay in one place and never sound like the ones before it. You get the feeling these guys could write Prog if they wanted to, and the fact that they decided to reign it in and stick to writing catchy, fun stuff like this makes me very happy. They take the standard Gamma Ray mode and leave it behind, taking only the bare essence of it and twisting it around to create ten powerful compositions that you will never get out of your head. Vocalist Dan Eibelman is a real talent, and while he has a thick accent, he uses it to his advantage here, layering his voice quite heavily when the need calls and contorting the vocal melodies so that he doesn't sound weak or silly, but actually extremely powerful and even emotional, when the time calls.

Opener "Lone Runner" blows open the gates with pride and fury both, hammering into your ears with ringing guitar harmonies and a screaming, wailing chorus for the ages, and the band follows it up with similar slabs of goodness like "Firebird," in which the bass plays a prominent role, for a nice change, "7th Gate" and "Still Believe," which have this strange, delightful "roaming" feel about them, transporting the listener to desert sands on far-away planets, "Through the Heavens Eyes," which is a spacey half-ballad with some killer guitar trills and one of the most honestly heartfelt vocal performances I've heard out of a new band in ages, "Power Metal Pride," with its jackhammer riffs and shout-along chorus, and "Untold Words," being the poignant power ballad that it is, is rich with emotion. The title track is the best song here, though, starting off slow and balladesque, and building up to an Earth-shattering chorus, with several time changes interspersed within the melody-laden guitar harmonies and epic mood. Truly fantastic, and I actually think this is one of the best Power Metal songs I've heard from the '00s as of yet.

So, this album rules, being full of heart and pride and equally full of extravagantly proficient songwriting to back it up. Bloden Wedd have a lot of potential, and I really hope they put out another album sometime soon, as these guys definitely have the chops to put out a new Power Metal classic. Let's see if they live up to it.