Alsion - Dawn of a new age 2.5/5
Reviewed: 2-29-08
Tracklist:
1. Remember Alsion
2. Ride against the wind
3. Kings of Alsion
4. Santa Maria
5. Horror night
6. System breakdown
7. Back to the kingdom
8. In silence
9. Coldness of light
10. Under northern skies
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Alsion is a band from Germany, and I know many of you have never heard of them, as they haven't even come close to reaching popularity. In fact, if I wasn't someone who dug so deep into power metal, the name Alsion would never have entered my list of bands to investigate. Anyway, they're a power metal band and 'Dawn of a new age' is their 2nd CD, the follow-up to their debut 'A kingdom beyond'.
Describing Alsion (both musically and vocally) is a bit hard, and to be honest, I've really struggled coming up with my signature band comparisons. I can give you a band to keep in the back of your mind however, and that is the Italian band Kaledon. Alsion doesn't have the strong symphonic presence of Kaledon however, and I definitely wouldn't lump Alsion in the large group of symphonic power metal bands. Instead, they offer up straightforward power metal, with simple rhythms, some nice guitar solos and occasional speed, though the majority of their songs are slow to mid-paced, possibly bordering too boring for the fans that like their power metal exciting. Really, there's nothing complex, powerful or bombastic, and vocalist Tobias Koch never stretches his range, as his laid-back voice simply flows with the music.
I don't consider 'Dawn of a new age' to be a bad CD though, and I actually enjoy this if I'm in the right mood. I realize I'm one of those power metal fans that loves extra-exciting power metal with vocalists who try and reach the highest notes possible, but CDs like this do make it into my listening rotation. Plus, 'Dawn of a new age' is an improvement over their average debut 'A kingdom beyond'. In fact, the 2 best songs from the debut are the very melodic "Kings of Alsion" and the catchy "Santa Maria", and for some reason, both of those songs are also on 'Dawn of a new age'. Those are the only songs duplicated on the CDs though, and the remainder of 'Dawn of a new age' is definitely a bit better than what's heard on 'A kingdom beyond'.
I really want to emphasize that 'Dawn of a new age' is not a poor CD, but the fact remains, the metal world is extremely competitive and it's hard to greatly recommend a simple CD like this, when there is much more exciting and memorable music in existence. I personally consider this good and it was probably worth the purchase, but the majority of you will surely filter through this and move onto the next band.
CLINT
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