| CD REVIEW Altaria |
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Band : Altaria Wow man, it’s been a while since we heard from these Melodic Metal Fins! Let’s see now…the last time (before that I also did a review of their 2006 album The Fallen Empire, posted 25/02/2006) was with the release of their compilation album Divine Invitation (review posted 15/05/2007), which not only compiled tracks from the first albums Invitations (2003)and Divinity (2004) and the two demos by the band, but also displayed 2 tracks with their newly recruited singer Marko Luponero (it were also the first recordings with new 2nd guitarist Petri Aho, whom joined after the release of The Fallen Empire). As soon as the new singer was recruited, the band started rehearsing to get ready for upcoming gigs, and even during the first of those events it turned out that Luponero is indeed a very good song writer as well! That the band had indeed chosen a more than adequate new vocalist, was proven by the fact that at their first show with the new line-up (done mid-February) in their hometown of Pietarsaan, they saw no less than 3,000 freaked-out Metal fans turn up! Work on new tracks, originally intended for a new album to be recorded in late 2007, gets along well, but then a certain feeling of unhappiness apparently started to creep in! And towards the end of 2007 Altaria parts company with their previous label, loosing also their long-time bassist (who’d started the band alongside drummer Tony S). No worries though, because the singer also used to play the bass in his former band Terrorwheel! So, while the remaining quartet starts looking around for a new label, they also look at their material, and decide to go for a strictly guitar-geared attack in the future (the older material always got some keyboard infused), something which came through a complete team work during the writing sessions of the new material! Although live activities during 2008 are rather scarce, the band still gets some attention from Finland’s media, first with Marco’s invitation to the television show Fängad av en Säng on FTS (where he performed a version of the song “Warrior”, from the upcoming album), and then Tony & Marco being invited as guest DJs on Radio X3M’s 3-hour Metallrepubliken show. Late November 2008, the band posts a rehearsal version of a new track titled “Pride & Desire, and announces they will be recording a new album on several locations during the next 3 months, with plans for Esa Orjatsalo to mix and master everything in March ’09 at the Sevik Audio studio. Mid May, the band is happy to announce their signing to British label Escape Music, and with the release still some months away, they make a new track (“Warrior”) available through their MySpace page! So, now the album’s here, and I cannot say I’m really that enthoused by it! It’s definitely rougher than any older Altaria material, but somehow that roughness makes the band more average than before. Still, you might well disagree! If a slightly nasal and Bluesey singer, backed groove-laden Melodic Metal and the usual Altaria backing harmonies is your thing, maybe you should check out the 4 songs posted at myspace.com/altariametal (besides the two tracks mentioned in the previous paragraph, there’s also the two new tracks on the compilation album). 80/100 Tony. |