AFM
2012
1. The Frozen Few
2. To The End
3. The Things We Believe In
4. Land Of The Dead
5. The Ice Kings
6. Till The Stars Cry Out
7. This World Of Ice
8. Dying Paradise
9. Mystic Symphony
10. Angels War
11. Take This Light
12. Masks (Bonus Track)
13. The Battle Of Waterloo (Bonus Track - Running Wild cover)
Orden Ogan's last album Easton Hope was my first experience with them and I must say they were a pleasant surprise. Nice power metal with a touch of folk influence to it. Easton Hope impressed enough where I was looking forward to hearing some more from this band. Always nice to have some newer blood in the Power Metal scene. To The End is their fourth album and they released their debut album in 2004, but that's still pretty young in this sort of scene. There are so many older bands out there at the top of the heap or bands made up of members of older, well known bands.
After a nice melodic, guitar driven intro, the album kicks into high gear pretty quickly with fast paced power metal energy. Much like the last album, Easton Hope, there is an epic power metal approach with some subtler notes of their more folk oriented early influence. It's a nice blend that conjures up comparisons to Falconer for me, though maybe a bit more direct. Blind Guardian is an obvious comparison as the vocals are of the Hansi Kursch school, but the music has notes of the band as well. At times the way the leads and rhythm guitar play off each other also gives me a bit of a Running Wild feel. That, of course, is only made more obvious by the fact they cover The Battle Of Waterloo as bonus here. In terms of that cover, I'll take the Running Wild version, but it's still a nice choice and gives a little insight into who inspires this band. Nice homage, if not really that great standing on it's own.
As for the other/original tracks, there are a number of good cuts here. To The End's high speed heaviness and epic layered vocals provide good energy and the folk inspired roll of The Things We Believe in makes for a strong and catchy single. Till The Stars Cry Out is another that I like as a totally balls out track with it's unrelenting speed and happy/layered vocals. Also worth noting is the slower ballad, The Ice Kings. I really dig this track as it carries a lot of emotional power to it and the vocalist really shines as his voice is allowed to breathe a bit more in the subtler atmosphere. I appreciate change ups like that and tracks like this keep things from getting too one dimensional.
It's easy to say you've basically heard songs that are similar to these perhaps, but the band does it well. To me this is just a band taking a variety of influences, crafting their own sound out of it, and making for good straight up power metal. Sometimes I just want epic, classic, speedy power metal and this is highly satisfying to that end. Hell, I'd say this band sounds a lot more passionate and convincing then a lot of the older power metal bands who tend to go through the motions and just put out an album for the sake of it.
Basically, this album is top notch for the sound it gos for and it kept my head moving. Lately, it seems like really convincing, high energy power metal albums are harder to come by to me and this album fills that hole pretty well. To The End just excels at it's sound in my opinion and I'd recommend this to anyone who likes speedy power metal with an epic vibe and big choruses.
Highlights: To The End, The Things We Believe In, The Ice Kings, Till The Stars Cry Out
Rating - 4.0/5
2. To The End
3. The Things We Believe In
4. Land Of The Dead
5. The Ice Kings
6. Till The Stars Cry Out
7. This World Of Ice
8. Dying Paradise
9. Mystic Symphony
10. Angels War
11. Take This Light
12. Masks (Bonus Track)
13. The Battle Of Waterloo (Bonus Track - Running Wild cover)
Orden Ogan's last album Easton Hope was my first experience with them and I must say they were a pleasant surprise. Nice power metal with a touch of folk influence to it. Easton Hope impressed enough where I was looking forward to hearing some more from this band. Always nice to have some newer blood in the Power Metal scene. To The End is their fourth album and they released their debut album in 2004, but that's still pretty young in this sort of scene. There are so many older bands out there at the top of the heap or bands made up of members of older, well known bands.
After a nice melodic, guitar driven intro, the album kicks into high gear pretty quickly with fast paced power metal energy. Much like the last album, Easton Hope, there is an epic power metal approach with some subtler notes of their more folk oriented early influence. It's a nice blend that conjures up comparisons to Falconer for me, though maybe a bit more direct. Blind Guardian is an obvious comparison as the vocals are of the Hansi Kursch school, but the music has notes of the band as well. At times the way the leads and rhythm guitar play off each other also gives me a bit of a Running Wild feel. That, of course, is only made more obvious by the fact they cover The Battle Of Waterloo as bonus here. In terms of that cover, I'll take the Running Wild version, but it's still a nice choice and gives a little insight into who inspires this band. Nice homage, if not really that great standing on it's own.
As for the other/original tracks, there are a number of good cuts here. To The End's high speed heaviness and epic layered vocals provide good energy and the folk inspired roll of The Things We Believe in makes for a strong and catchy single. Till The Stars Cry Out is another that I like as a totally balls out track with it's unrelenting speed and happy/layered vocals. Also worth noting is the slower ballad, The Ice Kings. I really dig this track as it carries a lot of emotional power to it and the vocalist really shines as his voice is allowed to breathe a bit more in the subtler atmosphere. I appreciate change ups like that and tracks like this keep things from getting too one dimensional.
It's easy to say you've basically heard songs that are similar to these perhaps, but the band does it well. To me this is just a band taking a variety of influences, crafting their own sound out of it, and making for good straight up power metal. Sometimes I just want epic, classic, speedy power metal and this is highly satisfying to that end. Hell, I'd say this band sounds a lot more passionate and convincing then a lot of the older power metal bands who tend to go through the motions and just put out an album for the sake of it.
Basically, this album is top notch for the sound it gos for and it kept my head moving. Lately, it seems like really convincing, high energy power metal albums are harder to come by to me and this album fills that hole pretty well. To The End just excels at it's sound in my opinion and I'd recommend this to anyone who likes speedy power metal with an epic vibe and big choruses.
Highlights: To The End, The Things We Believe In, The Ice Kings, Till The Stars Cry Out
Rating - 4.0/5
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