Legends From Now And Nevermore

If you are a die hard fan of Nocturnal Rites, you know that Tales Of Mystery And Imagination is a fantastic record, my favorite true metal album as far as I am concerned. The shame with this record is the production, "approximate". But it seems that no one really believed in this band at that time ... You may wonder why I am talking of Nocturnal Rites while I am writing a review on ... Galloglass. Well because Legends From Now And Nevermore reminds me so much Tales Of Mystery And Imagination. Even the titles of the records are very similar, don't you agree ? I would say that Galloglass plays a bit "faster" (power/speed) but the spirit of Tales Of Mystery And Imagination reigns on this record. The production is also approximate : the voice is in front line, the drums overshadow the guitars and vice-versa, while you hardly perceive the bass. In other words, the production also takes you back to Tales Of Mystery And Imagination. But let's start from the beginning : who are Galloglass ? It's a young band from Hannover, Germany. From the remnants of the local heroes, Serpent Moves, notably in the form of Carsten Frank (vocals), Dirk Zelmer (bass) and Arnd Lorenz (drums) formed Galloglass in 1999. In Kai Mühlenbruch (ex-Desolation) and Norbert Geiseler (ex-Progeria) on the guitars they soon found suitable bandmates. Playing fast, melodic power/speed metal à la Helloween or early Blind Guardian, the band finally sign with Limb Music. The vocalist sings like Anders Zackinson (ex-Nocturnal Rites singer) and the overall sounds quite epic. The opening track Dragons Revenge is the only "killer" : fast, melodic, epic ... well a true metal song ! The best track as far as I am concerned. The second track Ancient Times underscores the "lack of power" of the vocalist, who seems "trapped" inside a specific range. Carsten Frank is young and he must definitely improve. The violin on this track adds a "Celtic atmosphere", without being really innovative. A Wintertale starts with the violin and also establish a kind of "Celtic feeling", a melancholic epic song. Eye To Eye & Legend From Now And Nevermore are interesting tracks. However, this album stays excessively typical : verse - chorus - verse - chorus - riff ... The major problem here is the "heavy traffic" from the True Metal scene. Even though this album reminds you the best bands - Blind Guardian, Helloween, Iron Maiden or Nocturnal Rites - these songs come and vanish immediately. There is not a specific song or a killer hymn that prevails at the end of the listening. We heard that two thousand times from the German metal scene - Stormwarrior, Iron Savior, Paragon, etc. I consent that the violin "Celtic" approach is the hope-door of Galloglass, even though Blind Guardian does it since their first album and incorporate perfectly the Celtic atmosphere in their music. For true metal fans who buy everything from that scene.