It’s very easy to be derisive about power metal. Weak, generic riffing, ridiculous wailing vocals, ludicrous, badly-written fantasy lyrics, and layers of glossy overbearing keyboards – many a power metal band is guilty of these musical crimes. Sometimes it’s a great, enjoyable hoot, as we revel in the cheesy riff-fest and sub-Manowar lyrics. At other times however, it’s just plain bad.
None of the above applies to these prolific metalworkers from northern Germany, who have released a very classy album indeed. This album stands out from the crowd in several ways, not least because of the rather odd title `Radical Peace’, which doesn’t sound very metal at all!
For a start, this album has the right bits in all the right places so to speak – it is epic, melodic, symphonic and many other `ic’ words. We have catchy choruses, thundering riffs, some very competent musical intricacy and some excellent dynamics. Indeed there are keyboards, but they are fairly subtle and provide a good underpinning for the music rather than being in-your-face and overbearing. Because of this, the album doesn’t lose its hard edge, unlike so many other European power metal bands that often descend into something akin to guitar-driven pop music.
The riffs are solid, heavy and catchy – exactly what you’d want from a melodic heavy metal album. There are moments that remind me of classic Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, particularly the slightly folky intro of `Trial By Fire’, and some of the guitar work in `Waiting For The Sun’ and `Children Of The Flames’. There is some great solo work from Matthias Mineur and Sven Luedke, as well as some excellent song dynamics, particularly in the epic track `The Oswald File’ – despite being over 18 minutes long it never grows boring or too repetitive (in my opinion)!
Vocalist Klaus Dirks has a fine belting voice, which covers quite a range but never strays into the high-pitched shrieking of some bands. Using subtle layering of lush vocal harmonies, the band have created some ridiculously anthemic and infectious choruses (particularly the chorus to `Astral Hand’) which had me reaching for an invisible microphone every now and then – luckily no-one was watching!
Another area in which Mob Rules have scored points with me are the lyrics – it would be all too easy to go down the familiar epic fantasy route (even in a second language!), and per se there’s nothing wrong with that. However, these guys have set out on a different path, exploring some serious and distinctly un-cheesy topics such as John F Kennedy’s assassination (The Oswald File), global pollution and the evils of Josef Mengele and his eugenics experiments during the Second World War. If I had a hat I would indeed take it off to these guys for writing about these subjects, rather than playing it safe.
For those unfamiliar with exactly what to expect from Mob Rules, I’ll give you a list of bands for comparison. I know it’s possibly lazy writing but it normally helps me when reading reviews to have some musical reference points, so here goes; think Hammerfall, Rhapsody, Freedom Call, Helloween, Nightwish etc. Chances are you will have heard music like this before – as such it is not terribly original, but in a genre with so many mediocre bands, Mob Rules stand out by writing good, rocking songs with plenty of bombast, class and panache.
http://www.mobrules.de
http://www.myspace.com/mobrulesband
