Year : 2013
Style : Power Metal
Country : Italy
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 119 mb
Bio:
Taking their name from a secondary Norse deity, Italian brothers Fabio (rhythm guitar) and Nicolas Calluori (drums) founded heavy metal band Heimdall in 1994; but it was only three years later, after adding singer Claudio Gallo, bass player Giovanni Canu, and lead guitarist Carmelo Claps, that they recorded their first, eponymous demo. This was enough to draw the interest of Elevate Records, which promptly issued the band's 1998 full-length debut album, Lord of the Sky, and the following year's Temple of Theil -- both of them forging a powerful brand of epic power metal. Vocalist Gallo broke rank at this point, but, after taking a short break, the remaining members simply replaced him with new singer Giacomo Mercaldo prior to recording 2002's The Almighty: their first effort for Italian label Scarlet Records. Heimdall's fourth album, the aptly titled Hard as Iron, followed two years later and, as well as introducing new members Enrico Canu (drums) and Sergio Duccilli (keyboards and orchestration), arguably represented a career high, with its expert songwriting and top-notch performances.
Album:
Heimdall’s Aeneid is an example of an album that I just plain didn’t see coming. I own a couple of the band’s prior releases from the early 2000’s, but before the announcement that this was waiting in the promo system, I’d had no indication of its imminent arrival. Heimdall is a group that has entertained me considerably with their fairly competent blend of conventional power metal elements with Mediterranean (Mostly Italian and Greek) “epic” heavy/power tendencies. Now, 9 years after their 2004 release, Hard As Iron, they’ve cast themselves back into the ring with what promises to be their most modern and potent release yet.And those two words sum up Aeneid quite well, to be frank. While the band’s work has always been fairly enjoyable for me as a tried-and-true power metal devotee, the composition, production, and musical work in general have been improved remarkably during the 9 year hiatus. Of course, this might be expected, with a near complete revolution in band members since 2004. From Hard As Iron, only half the band remains the same.Time has had its say in the stylings here- guitar lines are considerably crunchier and more syncopated (while I’d never call this progressive, there is a measure of complexity that just wasn’t present on past albums, and that makes this a bit more interesting to listen to), the rhythm guitar is mixed better, and new vocalist Gandalf Ferro has less trouble wrapping his Italian mouth around the English lyrics. I find Ferro to be a preferable vocalist on the whole (as compared to Giacomo Mercaldo), but he still occasionally has an imperfect brightness to his timbre that can wear out its welcome. However, this only shows when he holds high notes for an extended period of time, and so I haven’t run into to many trouble sections.Opener “Forced By Fate” and the excellent “Night On The World” are just the type of songs that you’d never have heard from Heimdall before this. The mixture of guitar, keyboard, and vocals is better balanced within songs, and all elements sound more crisp. The songwriting is more adventurous and as melodic as ever, with some truly great choruses featuring respectable shout-along sections (“BURNING DOWN…THE GODS ARE CRYING FOR OUR FAAAAAATE!”) that feature the sort of frantic guitar licks and orchestral hits that you’ve come to expect from folks like Dark Moor. No, this isn’t symphonic power metal either, but the use of keyboard is more prominent and quite effective (see the intro to “All Of Us”).Aeneid is an exciting and rocking new chapter for one of those “old, small-name bands” that’s been floating around for a while but not doing much. If the crew is as committed and as creative as this album indicates, Heimdall has a very strong measure of life in it yet. I encourage all fans of melodic power metal to give this a try, it’s a good crossover between well-accepted Italian/German power metal styles and the epic heavy metal vibe that generally attracts an even more niche audience. This one is sticking around for a while!
Line-Up:
Gandolfo Ferro - Vocals (2011-present) - See also: Acacia, ex-The Opera
Umberto Parisi - Guitars, Vocals (backing), Songwriting (track 6)
Daniele Pastore - Bass
Fabio Calluori - Guitars, Vocals (backing) (1994-2007, 2011-present) - See also: ex-Electrocution, ex-From Depths, ex-Savior from Anger (live)
Carmelo Claps - Guitars (1996-2007, 2011-present)
Nicolas Calluori - Drums (1994-1999, 2002-2003, 2011-present) - See also: ex-Electrocution, ex-From Depths
Tracklist:
01. Prologue 01:14
02. Forced by Fate 03:21
03. Save You 04:20
04. Waiting for the Dawn 03:54
05. Ballad of the Queen 04:50
06. Funeral Song 01:38 instrumental
07. Underworld 04:05
08. Gates of War 05:03
09. Hero 04:49
10. Night on the World 03:51
11. All of Us 03:40
12. Away 01:37
13. The Last Act 04:58
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
