Balflare - Downpour (Japan Edition) (2012)

hudební novinky 2012 / music news 2012
Užívateľov profilový obrázok
Horex
Metalový král
Metalový král
Príspevky: 28123
Dátum registrácie: 21 Feb 2013, 19:14
Kontaktovať užívateľa:

Balflare - Downpour (Japan Edition) (2012)

Príspevokod užívateľa Horex » 15 Mar 2022, 14:23

Balflare - Downpour (Japan Edition) (2012)

Obrázok

Obrázok

Obrázok

Obrázok

Obrázok

Year : 2012 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Power Metal
Country : Japan
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 137 mb


Bio:

Balflare is a Japanese power metal band formed in 2004.Balflare was formed in 2004 by guitarist Syuta Hashimoto and vocalist Hideki Tada. Together, they began recording a demo, Sound of Silence. During the recording of this demo, drummer Isao Matsuzaki and bassist Takashi Odaira joined the band. The demo was largely well received in Japan and their career was launched.In 2005 they released their first full-length album Thousands of Winters of Flames through Hidden Maniacs. Following the release, a second guitarist was recruited, Leo Yabumoto, in order to reproduce the twin guitar leads live. After a couple of gigs in Japan, vocalist Hideki Tada left for private reasons. Eijin Kawazoe was recruited as the new vocalist.They continued playing several successful gigs, and started recording their second full length in August, 2005. During this time they recorded the song "Out Break" for the SAMURAI METAL Vol. 1 compilation album.In 2006 they released the album Tempest on July 26 through Soundholic.Their third album Sleeping Hollow was released on April 23, 2008. On September 28, 2012, they released their fourth album, Downpour.

Album:

Balflare is something of an enigma in the power metal scene, relying about equally on atmosphere and impact rather than upon a heavy dose of the latter with just a hint of the former. To an extent, every band in the style exhibits an aesthetic that cuts against the notion of simply being all impact the way thrash metal tends to manifest itself, but in spite of their generally rapid paced, speed metal character that has about as much to do with late 80s Helloween as the softer side of the equation, they've tended to cloak their rapidity in a haze of shimmering sound that puts even further on the atmospheric side of things than heavily keyboard-oriented bands like Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius. In keeping with this, winter based imagery has tended to work best for this band, which is why the shift towards a different seasonal aesthetic in their latest album Downpour came as a bit of a shocker, given that the implications of a warm weather monsoon replacing the dusk and frost of their previous offerings would tend to indicate a shift in production practice. Thankfully the only extent to which this album differs from the rest in its demeanor is that it takes the dense, melodic character of this band's past efforts and further amplifies them while still having a sense of smooth warmness that fits the meteorological phenomena under consideration.In many respects, this album functions as a slightly more concentrated continuation of the majestic sound of Sleepy Hollow, complete with all the obligatory guitar and keyboard gymnastics to boot. After a brief taste of symphonic tranquility in the mysterious sounding prelude "Koiranilma", there's very little beating around the bush with lightning speed shredders like "Before The Dawn", "Sate The Heart" and "Unite", each one of them taking a heavy degree of influence from the Tolkki vs. Johansson interchanges of the good old days of Stratovarius, with arguably a greater degree of emphasis on the keyboard work, particularly on "Unite" where the keys steal the show with an enticing mixture of dense textures and flashy runs. Perhaps equally as auspicious is the perpetual speed of the drum work, which while perhaps not as thunderous and powerful as Jorg Michael's pounding hits, definitely matches his handiwork in the precision department. This madness of speed and flair dominates most of the remaining songs rounding out the entire listen, with "Crave In The Dark" and "Downpour" making a heavy degree of ruckus while still managing to be rather tuneful and tasteful between the solo sections. Perhaps the one thing keeping this band anchored in the real world is vocalist Eijin Kawazoe, who has maintained his upper-mid range croon with occasional fits into higher territory, almost like an icon 80s metal singer that's just a hair closer to a Don Dokken than a Rob Halford, though still exhibiting many of the traits of the latter.Naturally, for this to function as a proper album there does have to be some degree of divergence away from speed and bluster, though proportionally speaking, this album definitely tilts heavily in favor of speed. Among the more grooving numbers found on here is the generally mid-tempo "Syzygy", which keeps things in more of a subdued, rocking feel and tempo, but is nevertheless loaded up with lead guitar noodling and rapid flowing keyboard additives. A slightly faster yet still generally subdued and tuneful story is told in "From The Edge Of The World", which has one of the more infectious chorus-lines found on this album and has some of the more charming underpinnings of several mid-tempo offerings on Sonata Arctica's Silence. "Lost" also has something more along the lines of a more subdued character, though more in the vain of a faster moving radio single out of Stratovarius like "Hunting High And Low" and "Eagleheart". But even on these generally less crazy numbers, the band can't resist the urge to cook for at least part of the time and throw in the usual mishmash of lead wizardry that would make Malmsteen proud. Even the album's token ballad "I'm Your Shadow", which has a piano line like something from a soap opera theme, picks up for a bit and roars past what generally would pass for a standard rock tempo.The aesthetic of a rainstorm definitely works well for this band, playing to their tendency to pour out their instruments like a violent river with a heavy degree of picturesque sentimentality that may come off as a bit bizarre at first, but is fairly easy to get into if there is any draw towards the early 2000s power metal sound of Finland. In truth, the primary thing that separates this band from the likes of Burning Point and Dreamtale, apart from the singer's accent, is an exaggerated sense of speed that has generally been abandoned by most for the past 8 or 9 years. It isn't so much that they've gone to the point of rivaling Dragonforce so much that the constancy of their speed elements are a bit atypical since the rise of the more AOR influenced strain the hit big in the mid 2000s. All the same, they don't really qualify as an overt throwback in that their sound is a bit more hazy and abstract when compared to most of the prime movers in the earlier days of the power metal revival, even and especially Sonata Arctica, which this band otherwise resembles the most. Downpour is, to date, the greatest of a growing list of impressive studio accomplishments, and should definitely be sought out by those who love their metal fast, flashy, and extremely catchy.

Line-Up:

Eijin Kawazoe - Vocals, Lyrics (tracks 2, 4-7)
Shoota Hashimoto - Guitars (lead), Guitars (rhythm), Synthesizers, Lyrics (track 9)
Leo Yabumoto - Guitars (rhythm), Lyrics (track 9)
Tommy - Keyboards
Takashi Odaira - Bass, Lyrics (tracks 2, 10-12)
Isao Matsuzaki - Drums

Tracklist:

01. Koiranilma 00:53 instrumental
02. Before the Dawn 05:05
03. Sate the Heart 04:38
04. Lost 04:14
05. Unite 05:02
06. Crave in the Dark 05:00
07. I'm Your Shadow 05:21
08. Rain's Realm 02:58 instrumental
09. Downpour 05:44
10. Syzygy 05:23
11. From the Edge of Time 05:31
12. In the End of Journey 03:42

Obrázok Obrázok

Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

Obrázok





Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
Odkazy na stažení všech alb naleznete pouze na našem blogu zde: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

Návrat na "NOVINKY 2012 / NEWS 2012"

Kto je prítomný

Užívatelia prezerajúci toto fórum: Žiadny pripojení užívatelia a 6 neregistrovaných