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April 2024

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Wildestarr: A Tell Tale Heart

Melodic/Heavy/Power Metal

4.0/5.0

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Scarlet Records
by Craig Hartranft,  10.25.2012

Hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, Wildestarr is the collaboration of ex-Vicious Rumors bassist Dave Starr and vocalist, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist London Wilde. Starr, an accomplished guitarist, handles those duties as well. Wilde adds lyrics, melodies, creative direction, and film score-like keyboards. A Tell Tale Heart, based upon the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, is their second release.

Wildestarr: Wilde, Starr, and Foster.

Immediately, you'll notice two things about Wildestarr and A Tell Tale Heart. First, there's London Wilde's powerful four octave range vocals. Her influences include Rob Halford and Geoff Tate, but I'm not sure either could keep up with performance. Her strength is only matched by her impressive control. Even at the most breathless pitch, there's no strain to deliver. However, with this power, Wilde can get rather bombastic, over the top, at times, as on In Staccata.

The second thing you'll hear is the strength of Wildestarr's metal. It's a crisp and assertive blend of heavy and power metal that does not sacrifice melody for its intensity. And the subtle and seamless undercurrent of keyboards adds to this, providing many songs with an epic feel. If there's any drawback to A Tell Tale Heart, it's that this is basically all you get from start to finish. Some variation comes in Last Holy King and Seven Shades of Winter, but mostly it's full throttle power metal from the start. Nevertheless, for the aforementioned attributes, A Tell Tale Heart is top notch and classic melodic heavy 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.

From the powerful vocals of London Wilde to the formidable arrangements, A Tell Tale Heart is top notch and classic melodic heavy power metal.

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Three years have passed since Sweden's Cruzh dropped their second long-player, Tropical Thunder, also introducing their new singer, Alex Waghorn. Now the band returns with The Jungle Revolution ... [ Read More ]