ALBUM REVIEW: Lord Volture – Never Cry Wolf
Playing upon the success of their debut release, which saw them support the likes of Blaze Baley and Conquest of Steel in the UK, Lord Volture look set to take on the world, with cold steel in hand, as their sophomore album, Never Cry Wolf is set to be released on the 11th Nov 2011. Drawing upon influences from the likes of Jag Panzer, Iced Earth and CAGE (even featuring lead singer of CAGE Sean Peck on the track “Into the Lair of the Lion”) Lord Volture have created an album worthy of the power metal genre; but in being a genre that is niche in its following, is it enough to break the mold and propel to the band to metal god status?
The album features 11 tracks (I can see a pattern emerging here) of classic metal goodness; galloping rhythms, harmonies, guitar solos (enough to quench the thirst of any budding metal player) and screams and bellows Bruce Dickinson and King Diamond could take note or two from.
Stand out tracks of the album are “Taiga”, which features a very catchy, Megadeth inspired riff that wouldn’t be out of place on a rocky film (easily becoming a workout favorite on my mp3 player), which descends into a very maiden esque diatonic guitar based descending run right after the solo trade off. “Celestial Bodies Fall” which shows off Lord Volture’s musical prowess in grove orientated riffs mixed in with flashing leads and vocals and “Into the Lair of Lion” which, along with “Brother”, shows that their musical collaboration and diversity can be expanded just beyond the hard edged metal tones of the albums previous songs.
Though it is a lengthy album, with each song on average hitting the six minute mark, bar “Wendigo, Minutes to Madness and Brother”, in all fairness it is a good effort by the band to step up from the debut release. It features a great, solid selection of songs that, like there previous album, keep the listener entertained and wanting more. But I cant help feel that this is where the album falls off that cliched cliff that most new bands/artists encounter theses days; nothing really stands out from the crowd and it doesn’t progress on from their debut release.
Albums and bands need to advance forward in order to sustain the thirst of the audience and fans, and quite frankly this is where the album falls flat; each song could easily belong onto the previous release of Beast of Thunder or INSERT_NAME_HERE power metal band. I am by no means slating this album, it is a commendable sophomore release which features more than enough for the average metalhead to get their teeth into. But it doesn’t really convey future aspirations for the band in terms of progression of songwriting, song selection and defining that “sound” which bands strive to achieve to separate them from the crowd.
To be critically harsh, we’ve heard this all before.
http://totalbikerfm.com/2011/11/04/album-review-lord-volture-never-cry-wolf/#more-1865
