|
=> www.metalstorm.ee
Reviewed by Jeff
/ Rating: 9
Felony is THE “melodic” sensation of the end of
the year for me. When a ton of bands choose everyday to play basic
boring Power Metal, our band from Switzerland chose to play real
Melodic Heavy with Neo Classical touches something between Angra,
Edguy and Adagio actually. I have the luck to listen to a lot of
Demo and Auto-Produced albums everyday but releases of such
quality, in more than three years of work on Metal Storm, I got
maybe three CD like this one.
The first detail that was really impressive for me is the quality
of the compositions played by some amazing musicians. Believe me
my friends, we’re probably in front of one of the best singer of
Heavy Metal. I don’t like to do comparisons but if you (evidently)
know the voice of André Matos you must know that the one of
Andreas Wildi is really similar and as good as the one of André.
Also the others guys of the band don’t suffer of any comparisons
with others confirmed musicians and they’re good really. Also,
it’s important to say that we don’t have only one singer on “First
Works”. Actually a lot of the songs are duets between Andreas and
Andrea Richner a session vocalist with an amazing angelical voice.
Don’t expect any new Symphonic stuff here, she just has a really
beautiful voice and it fits perfectly with the music of Felony.
When it comes to the music, we have a really great Melodic Heavy
Metal and as I said in the introduction we’re between Angra, Edguy
and Adagio. Adagio in reason of the neo classical spirit of the
album with some progressive touches (the Keyboards helps a lot
here), Angra in reason of the impressive catchy melodies and Eguy
in reason of the power of those songs. However this is not a
clone, the music of Felony never copies those bands but I can hear
that they've probably influenced them. It’s not so hard to
understand at the end that we have a good bunch of potential hits
on this album (like "What A Felony", "Say Goodbye" or "Justice"),
and when I see which bands are able to find success nowadays I
hope that Felony will have this luck too…
The production is also fantastic! If this album is actually an
auto-production it was however mixed by the master Sascha Paeth at
Gate-Studio in Germany. The result is simple, this album has the
sound of a big German production and it’s really hard to find
something wrong at the end. Same with the artworks and layout, all
that is really professional and impressive for a self-released
album. If they don’t catch a deal with a big label, then I don’t
understand anything…
“First Works” is one of the sensations of the end of the year 2005
in the category of Melodic Heavy Metal. They’re not signed but
they prove to me that they can be easily compared to the best
bands of the scene. Also, I say it again but Andreas Wildi is one
of the most promising singers that I found lately. With such
arguments I hope that you understand that you cannot miss this
release, probably one of the best Heavy Metal album of the year.
As we say in French, “chapeau bas messieurs”… |
|
|