Falconer

Very interesting band. First thing that blasted me was (and still is) the artcover, one of the best I've seen in a long time now... impressive ! Then the sound and production, like the artcover, blowing me away. The music, progressive power metal shows impressive musicianship and inspiration and makes me feel like the equation is almost perfect. But unfortunately, Falconer have a problem, their singer ! Bad enough that his vocals are not dynamic, but he tries to do effects with his voice that only top singers can accomplish and the only thing that happens is that it catches your attention everytime (being out of tune) he tries one of these effect, but the realisation is so bad that you wish you didn't just hear it. Too bad cause he's voice itself is okay, reminding me Ten a lot, but of course, the range and capabilities are far from approaching Ten's singer. It seems that he's a bit shy behind his microphone, the music is raging with tremendous power in the background and he's somehow holding it... let's hope he can unveil his potential (maybe with more practice) because Falconer music is excellent, dynamic, powerfull to the bones, very epic and melodic with a little touch of progressive genius that gives them a unique sound. I would define them somehow in between Ten and Symphony X with raging True Metal riffs and solos. The most impressive thing of all is the incredible speed of the music, riffs and drumming fighting against each other, during some moments, to achieve the ultimate feeling for the definition of what I call a truely epic sound. The only thing keeping this album to be a masterpiece is Falconer's singer, cause musically the album is simply an atomic bomb !!! The band is from Sweden and they're only 3. The last track is a bonus song is Swedish... although it contains some good elements (the girl vocals and the rhythm), the song itself is pretty weird, but it's probably because it's very unusual for me to listen to songs in swedish and also very very .... well let's say : too much folk for me. The overall musical atmosphere is a complete success, the singer can be ok from time to time (like on the incredible song Royal Galley, too bad the songs ends weirdly) , but he tends to tests some vocal abilities he simply doesn't possess a bit too often. So despite the vocal that needs to be worked out, Falconer have an excellent sound, imagination to sell and a very good production. A new player in first division ? maybe not just yet, but with some adjustments on the vocals (or another singer maybe) I think they've what it takes to go to the top ! This one is for all power metal fans out there (as long as you can tolerate the voice of course), and if you're into progressive power too and you like bands like Symphony X or Ten then you definitely might want to check these guys quickly ! Very good, keep up the good work !