By Jonny Bakes
Now it’s pretty safe to say that I quite like a bit of symphonic metal. Hell, when Nightwish played at Bloodstock, my mate and I spent the entire event telling everyone who would listen that “Nightwish have done more for music than The Beatles.” Okay, so partly that was to get a rise out of people, but also, I do listen to more Nightwish than The Beatles, so take that as you will… The issue with the symphonic metal genre, though, is that it’s completely dominated by a handful of greats and those that try to breakthrough into the scene have a huge leap to be able to get noticed.
Fortunately, guys like the moderately tame writers at ÜRHQ (WTF? – Ed) are always on the lookout for the new and exciting, and that’s how I came to be in possession of a new release from Bulgarian symphonic metallers, Metalwings. Metalwings are no stranger to using their own steam to push their symphonic metal brand, with ‘A Whole New Land’ forming their second self-released full-length album since their inception in 2010. It was exactly this that caught my attention though, to try and breakthrough independently is quite a feat so they must have something well worth pushing!
On initial listen ‘A Whole New Land’ follows the recipe for symphonic metal to the letter and it has everything you would expect. There are the strong female vocals delivered by the classically trained Stela Atanasova accompanied by significant amounts of piano and synthesized choral samples. This is backed by a pretty robust rhythm section and some fancy guitars to top things off nicely. But for me, I think the mixing loses some of the depth, particularly at the lower end. I would like to see some stronger bass coming through because the little snippets I hear at times make me want it to be more prominent! The songs are certainly on the lengthier side too, which gives you a chance to experience all the elements of symphony, which particularly allows the viola to have the chance to shine through.
‘I See Your Power’ is one of the standout tracks for me. A seven-minute-long twisting epic that transitions through gentle piano and vocal driven passages into bombastic rhythms. Not just once, but several times does this flit back and forth between the two, but the vocals remain consistently prominent in both styles in a way that allows these to be the connective thread that runs through the song. And I think that it’s this that caught my attention as it allows the sling to slow seamlessly even though there are elements that keep switching up the pace!
Overall, ‘A Whole New Land’ is a pretty worthwhile listen for fans of the operatic, vocally driven flavour of metal that is symphonic metal. There’s a way to go before Metalwings will be sharing the same crowds as the big bands of the genre, but there’s some strong potential here that has every chance of continuing to develop their sound and production to deliver gripping performances. Metalwings are already able to weave passages of music together to form a seamless experience which is absolutely the key to success, and the rest will come with experience. So, I would suggest getting on board early to give the band the chance to continue to push their own boundaries and to stretch their Metalwings.
- ‘A Whole New Land’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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