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October 8, 2008 |
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01. Intro / Guardian Of The Ancient Deeds
02. Fate Of The King
03. Dissention Seeds
04. Warp Spasm
05. Mourning Grief
06. The Silver Arm
07. Balor Of The Evil Eye
08. The Arrival
09. Armies Assemble
10. Splendor Divine
11. Painless Vengeance
12. End Domain
13. Homeland
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Athens, Greece metallers AIRGED L'AMH (another Greek outfit!!) have just released their new disc entitled "The Silver Arm", a good power metal, battle-lore, folk-legend type release. The album is a concept story based on an ancient Celtic legend with the tribe of Tuatha de Dannan (Irish legend says that the Tuatha de Danann (the people of the Goddess Danu) are the fairy folk; the fairies, pixies and brownies who inhabit the mounds, or Sidhe, of the Irish countryside) and the silver arm of king Nuada (a weapon that only draws mortal blows when drawn). An ambitious undertaking to be sure. However, unless you are familiar with the storyline already, the concept portion may be a little lost on you. But the music still rocks pretty good! Steve Venardo (vocals), Alexander Vasilopoulis (guitar, and album cover artwork), George Sofikitis (guitar), John Luna Tsimas (bass), and George Thanasopoulis (drums) are all solid musicians, performing the power metal genre quite well.
"Intro/Guardian Of The Ancient Deeds" is indicative of what is in store for the listener. Finally, a band doesn't label their 'intro' as a separate song. There may be hope after all! This song is fairly fast paced, with drummer George setting a solid pace for the band. "Dissention Seeds" has a nice little chugging feel to it, while "Warp Spasm" has a cool, speedy bridge. "Mourning Grief" is a low moment on the disc though. This acoustic ballad sound just doesn't work - it's slow and very much out of place amidst the other power songs. It may fit into the story line, however musically, I have a problem with it cuz it's just plain boring.
"The Silver Arm" and "Balor Of The Evil Eye" follow the typical power metal formula with fairly good results. "The Arrival" slows things down again, though there are occasional glimpses of metal interspersed. The instrumental "Armies Assemble" sees the band returning to that chugging feel during its intro before turning into a more mid-tempo rocker.
"Splendor Divine" and "Painless Vengeance" have some very wicked double-kick drumming and some very cool grooves. The last track, "Homeland", is really just an 'outro' for the album, and doesn't really accomplish much.
Though "The Silver Arm" is a good release, the band will have to watch that they don't get caught up in the 'battle-lore' genre, which is something that can happen quite easily in power metal - just ask HAMMERFALL. This is a good band with a good offering, but their next album will truly tell the tale.
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