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Stormrider: The Path of Salvation

Heavy/Power Metal

3.5/5.0

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Pure Steel Records
by Craig Hartranft,  10.17.2012

Unlike Custard, hailing from the same town, Germany's Stormrider has a 'metal' name for their band. They bring their third album The Path of Salvation on Pure Steel Records.

Stormrider: what's he yanking on?

Much like Custard, however, Stormrider delivers more traditional heavy power metal, generally keeping the pace brisk throughout. They might remind some of a mixture of Iron Maiden and Iced Earth. It's galloping stuff propelled by a tight rhythm section and lit up by twin guitar fireworks. The vocals are strong and clean, but Stefan Hebes is more Dickinson and less Halford (as opposed to Custard's vocalist). However, sometimes he does get overwhelmed by the music, but this could simply be the mix on several songs.

The speedy gait throughout the songs of The Path of Salvation lends itself to more than a little predictability, even redundancy. It's not that Stormrider can't moderate their pace, they do so on a song like Heaven Is Closer but, generally, you have to listen for the change of tempo within each song. A better example might be The Sentence Divine, where speed meets better sophistication in the arrangement.

Other times the formula is simply too similar, like the chord progressions at the start of Across the Acheron and Long Way Down, or the flurry of drums on Heretics and Circle of Betrayers, which makes the songs seem as clones. It's possible the most diehard power metal fan might stumble over Stormrider's foreseeable pattern; others, conversely, will hear nothing more than calculated and authentic true metal. Regardless, The Path of Salvation is a solid representation of Euro-American power metal. Recommended.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Stormrider's The Path of Salvation delivers tried and true, calculated and representative, traditional Euro-American melodic power metal. Simple.

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Here's a fun fact about Swiss legends, Gotthard: their last 16 releases, excepting their debut album, went to number one in their home country, making them one of Switzerland's most successful acts and ... [ Read More ]