Year : 2012
Style : Melodic Heavy Metal , Melodic Power Metal
Country : Germany, Sri Lanka, Italy, France, England , Brazil
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 114 mb
Bio:
German heavy / power metal band formed in 2006.The band split up in 2010 after failing to find a label to release their second album, however some time later the band signed to Limb Music and released Calling The Gods in November 2012.The band featured members from Sri Lanka, Italy, France, Germany, England and Brazil.In December 2008 Civilization One became possibly the first Western metal band ever to play in Sri Lanka. For this show Kai Mühlenbruch filled in as their guitarist.Civilization One decided to split up in March 2010 after failing to find a label to release their planned second album "Calling the Gods". The album was released two years through (#invalid label link ID#), but the band did not reactivate.
Album:
There was something markedly odd about the power metal climate circa 2007, where a number of new and arguably redundant projects were born and quickly died, while some existing projects found themselves in similar territory with sudden line-up shifts. One can particularly recount the short-live Uli Kusch project Ride The Sky after his exodus from Masterplan, a project that sounded nearly identical to said band, while Roland Grapow's ongoing collaboration in that band found itself with a radically different sounding lead vocalist in Mike DiMeo, formerly of Riot. Both of these projects turned out decent studio offerings that were met with mixed reactions by the metal community, and were subsequently scrapped. Civilization One seemed to have a great resemblance to that of Ride The Sky, being conceived by Chitty Somapala immediately following his departure from Firewind and oddly enough, sounding very similar to his brief collaboration with Gus G. on "Forged By Fire", and subsequently falling apart without a sophomore release.However, after a couple of years of being on ice, Limb Music took an interest in Civilization One, and thus Chitty resurrected the project with some of the original lineup still in tact (though sadly without Secret Sphere guitarist Aldo Lonobile, whose guitar input pretty much rivaled Gus G's impressive chops) and with it came the already recorded yet unreleased follow up "Calling The Gods". At first glance, this little LP comes off as a bit rushed and shorter in scope than its predecessor, leading one to wonder if maybe the album had only been partially completed before being shelved. That isn't to say that the songs found on it aren't decent, in fact, this album does have a few catchy albums that stick in one's memory a bit more clearly than anything off "Revolution Rising", but as a whole it does feel a tad bit incomplete, thus it actually comes with some bonus material that further complicates the overall listening experience.In a nutshell, this album is a straightforward reaffirmation of the slickly produced, guitar heavy with a dash of atmosphere character that tends to be heard on a typical Firewind album. The only area where it really differs is that Chitty's vocals have much more of a Ronnie James Dio character to them, as opposed to the general David Coverdale worship that comes with Firewind both before and after Chitty's brief stint with them. It differs a little from its predecessor in that there is a slightly greater amount of mid-tempo grooving and a more simplistic riff approach, most likely due to Chitty and bassist Pierre-Emmanuel Pélisson writing all the songs without any input from a principle guitar player. Nevertheless, songs like "Calling The Gods", "Archangel", "Hell Awaiting" and "True Believer" prove to be no slouches in bringing in a bit of a Primal Fear styled speed metal character at several key points, and high speed cruiser "The Supernatural Virtue" actually brings in a bit of a thrash/melodic death metal character to the instrumental approach that almost sounds like it could have been lifted off of "Slaughter Of The Soul".This isn't to say that the entire album is just a bare-bones excursion into radio-friendly metal anthems, as the two present guitars do take ample time to shred up the fret board during their obligatory solo sections, but there is definitely a bit more of a rock radio character to the way this album flows. It becomes particularly blatant on a lot of the slower groove songs like "Evil Eye" (which sounds like it could have been on one of Masterplan's first two albums) and "New World" with its sort of 80s tinged bluesy character. Nothing ever quite comes off as a total failure in the general song list (save some of the bonus material), but there are definitely some songs that feel like they could have had a bit more put into them and are less than full. That said, while the first bonus song "Spirit In The Wind" has a decent driving riff reminiscent of Sabbath's "N.I.B.", the two following additions are where this album takes a truly odd turn. Both "Believing The Dream" and "Dreams Of Fire" were composed for national sporting events (what is it with nationalistic music and dreams?), and are about as contrived and awkwardly optimistic in character as can be imagined, not to mention totally skip-worthy.Given the circumstances of this album's birth, a little leniency can be given for the somewhat jarring character of the album's final moments given that for some reason power metal fans are allergic to albums that clock in under 40 minutes (this wasn't the case back in the 80s). It's definitely far from the worst thing ever put out in this style, and it will probably be a nice occasional listener for anyone who wants their metal well produced and easy to access. It's uncertain whether this band has any future given Chitty's serial band hopping tendencies. Then again, Gus G had the same general habits earlier in his career and has kept his own primary project going the entire time. Let's just hope that the next studio run will build a bit more on the stronger part of Chitty's traditional 80s influences.
Line-Up:
Chity Somapala - Vocals (2006-2010) - See also: ex-Avalon, ex-Court Jester, ex-Red Circuit, Chitral 'Chity' Somapala, ex-David Shankle Group, ex-Firewind, ex-Ivanhoe, ex-PowerWorld, ex-Rekuiem, ex-Domain, ex-Moonlight Agony, ex-Power Quest, ex-FARO
Oliver Marmann - Guitars (2009-2010)
Nicklaus Bergen - Guitars (2009-2010) - See also: Thrashback, Loudblast (live), ex-Maladaptive, ex-Vakarm, ex-Altered Beast, ex-Decline of Humanity, ex-Shadow of the Beast, Sortilège (live), Bombtrack (Rage Against The Machine Tribute), LZ-129 (Led Zeppelin Tribute), ex-ADX, ex-Bliss of Flesh, ex-Infected Society, ex-Carnival in Coal (live), ex-Yyrkoon (live), ex-Como Muertos, ex-Bloody Gore, ex-Living Dead
Pierre-Emmanuel Pélisson - Bass (2006-2010) - See also: Asylum Pyre, Dieresis, Loudblast (live), ex-Maladaptive, ex-Heavenly, ex-Northwind, ex-Suxeed, ex-Timo Tolkki's Infinite Visions
Michael Stein - Drums (2008-2010) - See also: Final Chapter, Victory, ex-Red Circuit, ex-Aimless
Tracklist:
01. Aazis 00:53
02. Calling the Gods 03:27
03. The Land in Flames 03:45
04. Archangel 04:08
05. Evil Eye 04:42
06. Hell Awaiting 03:48
07. True Believer 03:39
08. Reunite 03:29
09. The Supernatural Virtue 03:26
10. New World 03:43
11. Spirit in the Wind 03:41 (Bonus Track)
12. Believing the Dream 02:57 (Bonus Track)
13. Dreams of Fire (We Unite As One) 03:20 (Bonus Track)
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