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Ashes Of Ares: Well Of Souls
Ashes Of Ares - Well Of Souls Music Review

Ashes Of Ares - Well Of Souls

Heavy/Power Metal
3.5/5.0

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Rock Of Angels Records
Released: 09.11.2018
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 05.11.2018

There's always been extra room in the circular file known as the "where have the been" file. After better than five years, American metal band Ashes Of Ares makes a sudden reappearance. While five years may not be a long time for most of us, in the music business it's almost a perpetual hockey season. So to reintroduce Ashes Of Ares, it's the duo of vocalist Matt Barlow and guitarist Freddie Vidales, both former Iced Earth players. Now on the Rock Of Angels Records label, the band returns with their second long player, Well Of Souls.

Ashes Of Ares Band Photo Click For Larger Image

Ashes Of Ares

To continue our recollection, Ashes Of Ares (AoA) plays traditional (and melodic) American heavy power metal, and very guitar-centered at that. The breakdown is a simple one. First, there's Vidales' abundance of riffs and exceptional soaring guitar solos. After this, Barlow adds his versatile metal voice to the mix, which varies from straight forward clean melodic singing to epic blood curdling screamo. All these things are wrapped in the elements of guitar and vocal harmony, a pummeling rhythm section, and tempos that range from heavy metal steady to power metal speed. That's the essential summation.

As for the content, Well Of Souls offers some basic power metal with The Alien, Sun Dragon, and Time Traveler. While riffs rule most songs, the riffage is monster within Transcending and the thumping The God Of War, which also offers a powerful bass line. To mix things up at tad, the first song, Consuming The Mana, opens with a rather stylish symphonic start before rushing into some more power metal. But won't hear that much of that symphonic stuff after this. At the start of the second half of the album AoA offers listeners a trilogy: Let All Despair, In The Darkness, and Spirit Of Man. The first song offers a light electric guitar motif in a metal anthem, the latter two mostly heavy and steady metal, nearly doomish in feeling. Both musicians are James Bond fans and so the album closes with a cover of You Know My Name by the late Chris Cornell from 2006's Casino Royal. For all the many great "Bond" songs, this song isn't one of them. But I grew up with Goldfinger and Live And Let Die. Nevertheless, Well Of Souls finds Ashes Of Areas back up to speed with their American heavy power metal. If you liked their first go at it, you'll likely dig this one too.


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The Bottom Line

Well Of Souls finds Ashes Of Areas back up to speed with their American heavy power metal. If you liked their first go at it, you'll likely dig this one too.

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