| CD REVIEW Saidian |
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Band: Saidian So, this German Melodic Metal band from Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart area) is still alive!?! Well, excuse mé, okay, but having released their debut For those Who Walk The Path Forlorn in May 2005 (review by yours truly posted 25/07/2005) and sophomore album Phoenix in September 2006 (review posted the 29th of that month) through the Metal Heaven label, no music by the band came along my desc anymore, so… Yet the band hasn’t exactly been idle, and even if they didn’t tour extensively for the last album [at first breaking in new permanent drummer Bernd Heining (just like Klaus Sperling, he’s one of the back-up drummers of Chinchilla, and occasionally replaces Sperling in Mötorhead cover act Bastards), whom immediately convinced the band with his powerful performance on the bonus track for the japanese release of the Phoenix album he recorded with the band] the guys still played at a couple of lower profile festivals (the highlight of which was certainly the Magic Circle Festival in July 2007 – two tracks of their performance were featured on the Magic Circle Festival 2007 DVD, issued in November of that year, by the way), did supports for the likes of Sinner, Y & T (and added supports to Freedom Call and Dark Sky to that in late 2008), and even did a couple of benefit shows/ festivals. No longer supported by Metal Heaven (their deal was only for two albums), the band started the recordings of this, their third album, on a self-financed basis back in early September 2007, using several studios in the process [keyboards & lead vocals were done @ House Of Audio in Karlsdorf (some 60 kms of Stuttgart in North-Westerly direction), guitars at BJ-Acoustics Studio in Ludwigsburg (some 15 kms North of Stuttgart), and the rest (drums, bass, more keyboards, more guitars, and the “choir” vocals) at Studio 22 in Illingen (some 30 kms NW of Stuttgart)], and eventually rounding everything off at Total Recall Studio in Ludwigsburg with engineer/ co-producer Axel Heckert (he’d also done the 3rd recording session talked about above) in January 2008. Having sent out promos to several labels, the band eventually started a long negociation process, eventually signing to Blistering Records in January 2009…the label apparently undaunted by the fact that the band just recently had to change bassist after Manuel Glassmann had decided to leave in mid December (most probably, the band’s swift replacement of the latter by scene veteran Stefan Lüddemann – who’d not only already played with Saidian drummer Bernd Heining, but also in his beginning days played with musicians who’d go on to join Helloween and Pink Cream 69, left a good impression)! My first impression of the band’s third album, is one of improvement in the vocal department. To begin with (and as mentioned above), there’s now a “choir” [consisting of Engelfried himself, keyboardist Markus Bohr, Alex Koch (of SceneS), and Jürgen Volk (of Rawhead Rexx, known to have stepped in as lead singer on the occasion when the band played at a benefit show while Engelfried was having a holiday)] backing up lead singer Markus Engelfried (exactly one of the improvements I suggested – when reviewing the previous album – the band should make). Yet, the band still doesn’t make it out of the Underground, or into the league of bands they like to be compared with (I mean, Edguy, Stratovarius, Royal Hunt…?). For some reason there’s also mention of one Rodrigo Palacios playing additional bass (and Glassmann ain’t even mentioned in the credits!). Anyway, to my personal taste, the band made the mistake to cover the track “Tokyo” (off the self-titled 1980 album by Austrian cult band Tokyo), the mistake being that Engelfried is a poor substitute for Tokyo’s charismatic lead singer/ guitarist/ keyboardist Klaus Luley (who’d found the equally fantastic Craaft in 1983). Just like on the two previous albums, you get a good measure of Heavy Metal tracks with tempos changing from calm to speedy (let’s not exagerate either) with tasteful keyboard passages on top, and the occasional semi-ballad (in this case the tracks “Once In My Dreams” and “Moonlight’s Calling”). “Sign in The Sky” opens somewhat surprisingly with a fierce Neo-Classical Hard Rock tonality, and manages to sustain that feeling throughout the song (although in a diminished way). The band only recently (àfter May 12 anyway) posted a threesome of tracks off the new album (among which “Tokyo”) on their page at myspace.com/saidian alongside the two tracks off each of their other albums, allowing you to take a peak inside the new album. If that’s not enough, I’m sure you’ll find additional samples at Amazon.com (or one of the other on-line sales websites). 84/100 Tony. |