Hard 20 |
Dark Moor"The Dark Moor" From Spain comes a metal Armada in the form of Dark Moor. These guys play symphonic power metal, much in the style of bands like Rhapsody and Stratovarius. There is very much classical influence in Dark Moor's music, with the use of violins and other strings, harpsichord, piano, choir vocals, harp, and various wind instruments. They even had a soprano singer, Beatriz Albert, lend her talents to two of the songs. She's got quite a voice! There are also two instrumental tracks that are entirely classical. However, the band does not forget that they are a metal band! Their music is melodic and polished metal, but it gallops along at full speed on every track (except the aforementioned instrumentals), and the guitars do pack a crunch! Guitarists Enrik Garcia and Jose Garrido are quite a good guitar duo, sounding influenced by Timo Tolkki (Stratovarius), Luca Turilli (Rhapsody), and Yngwie Malmsteen, while vocalist Alfred Romero (the newest member, replacing departed female vocalist Elisa) has a singing style similar to Michael Kiske, Kai Hansen, and Geoff Tate. The band is very talented. They've got everything down to a T here, right down to the very last note. Perfection is the name of the game here. There is one arguable point-that perfection is the problem here, making this album sound like it was done by the numbers, and it sounds a bit too perfect. Be that as it may, a good album is a good album, and this album is certainly very good-a brilliant piece of work in fact. Granted, there are many other bands that have a similar style, so no new ground is covered here, but Dark Moor have done very well nonetheless. |