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A very thick, heavy album with songs on repeat.-
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| Power Quest: Blood Alliance |
Melodic Power Metal
Napalm Records
April 5th, 2011
- Battle Stations - 1:46
- Rising Anew - 4:35
- Glorious - 4:58
- Sacrifice - 6:13
- Survive - 6:02
- Better Days - 5:24
- Crunching the Numbers - 7:26
- Only in my Dreams - 6:09
- Blood Alliance - 9:04
- City of Lies - 6:39
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| Links |
| Review Information |
Release length: 63:58
Review posted on April 7th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 6.5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Wings of Forever (2002) | Neverworld (2003) | Magic Never Dies (2005) | Master of Illusion (2008) | Blood Alliance (2011)
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| EP(s): |
Promo 2002 (2002)
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| Demo(s): |
Power Quest (2001)
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| Review |
The Melodic Power Metal field is something that has been growing for sometime, but never really took off as a large part of the Metal culture. However, with the sudden success of many bands that play this style, such as Sonata Arctica, it's almost impossible to deny that there has been an increase in newer acts finding success and popularity in the field, while many of the earlier bands of this style still wait in the wings to be acknowledged for their hard work. Power Quest is one of these bands, have existed since 2001, and formed in the United Kingdom, releasing a total of four full-length releases up to this point. However, Blood Alliance, the group's fifth full-length effort, looks to push the group further into the spotlight.
Blood Alliance is a strong Melodic Power Metal entry that really focuses on a beautiful, fantasy-based atmosphere. And, much like the group's previous recordings, they pull it off quite well. Too well infact, as there are times where the music doesn't really seem to appeal to the average fan of this style, and feels more like it was designed for some kind of children's special. "Sacrifice" has a bit of a glorious vibe to it musically, along with the keyboards adding a little extra atmosphere to the track, but the chorus feels more like it belongs to some kind of cheesy eighties feel-good flick, or a modern day children's cartoon franchise. This is almost solidified by the previous track, "Glorious", which has passages in the main verses that sound like the band expanded on the theme to the animated children's cartoon show Pokemon. However, given how some of the "s" sounds are made on words in "Glorious", one might think Pokemon meets Daffy Duck, and really just becomes a song that is hard to take seriously, though that speech impediment issue is probably just from the production quality of the album, as that becomes a whole other topic all together.
But, luckily that doesn't work for every song on this release. There are still some songs on here that feel like you're listening to a Melodic Power Metal album and not a children's anime. "Survive" has a stronger bite to the song with it's beauty and melody, having a strong gallop to them that fills the music nicely along with richer, somewhat tighter and more complex guitar work that weaves more of a fantastical atmosphere of something like another world, or perhaps even an underwater world such as Atlantis. But, as the album does start to get better, you're immediately taken back to "Sacrifice" with "Better Days". As soon as the song starts, you'll have the chorus of "Sacrifice" running through your heads, as the keyboards are so identical it's flat out infuriating that the band would pull something like this and think no one would notice, unless they honestly did not notice the similarities themselves. And the thing is, that's the song! There's more of an early Rock vibe to the music, but it's literally just the music of the chorus to "Sacrifice" through the entire song, right down to a similar vocal performance and only slightly altered by one or two notes chorus in the song from "Sacrifice"! While the CD has a highly impressive atmosphere, it won't matter, as this track feels more like filler that comes off as a slap in the face to the loyal fans. "Only in My Dreams" starts off eerily similar, though the keyboard is broken up more to make it something far different, but it sure makes you tense up and lure you into thinkingt you're about to hear "Sacrifice" part three.
Instead, the song is actually a decent track. This, and many others, seem to take a strong eightiest rock inspiration from bands like Europe, but in more of a power ballad sense, and it's a mixture that Power Quest does well. This "Theater Rock" style (as I've heard it called before) makes the songs have a little extra bite to them while still retaining a Power Metal edge. Of course, this doesn't apply to "Glorious" or "Sacrifice" for the reasons outline above. The production quality even seems to aid that idea along. The album sounds heavy production-wise. It's not clear, and just feels like it's meant to have some kind of metaphoric weight to it holding the music down, feeling like something from the early eighties remastered to today's standards. It's nice, but it comes with a price as it does seem to affect the music at times. Sometimes the vocals feel like the production has altered them horribly, such as the "s" sounds on "Glorious", and the keyboards feel rather weak at times, feeling more hidden in the mix instead of being one of the more important aspects of the recording.
Honestly, Blood Alliance is a CD that leaves a bit of a bitter taste with mixed reactions. Fans of Melodic Power Metal will greatly enjoy this album, as there are plenty of tracks that stay within the typical Power Quest realm of composition and performance. There's plenty of atmosphere with tracks heavy with melody and beauty. But, some of the tracks go too far with the atmosphere and seem to just stop being Metal all together, coming off as if songs designed specifically for children television shows. Tack on a production quality that leaves the final product sounding like it's from the eighties, but leaves a questionable heavy, thick feeling to the album that will rub some listeners the wrong way, and the album that has potential that is recognized, but at the same time feels like those elements of potential can often become abused to overkill scales.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Napalm Records.
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