Sleeping Village Reviews
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!

ELMSFIRE - Wings of Reckoning (Review)

9/27/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Written by: Lord Hsrah

It’s time for German heavy metal today, after a long time to be honest, and Elmsfire are here to present their latest offering, Wings of Reckoning. Dusseldorf based quartet Elmsfire have been around since a bit more than two decades and have had their own share of multiple lineup changes over the years, but that hasn't let this machine stop from churning out records, as Wings of Reckoning is their sixth. Frequent lineup shifts saw fellow compatriot band Van Canto singer, Ross Thompson, get enlisted to take care of vocal duties. The only constant that's been in the band is the main core, the heart of the whole group, the guitar duo of Germano and Doro, who not only team up for guitar duties but also split bass duties for the album.

Now, I did mention that the number of switching members in the band might not have stopped them from making more music, but I must say that it certainly has diminished them. The album is a blend of heavy metal and thrash metal with certain power metal elements, and tries to fuse the three into something true to the band, which they have been doing really well so far. I must also point out that this is an interesting combo, as there's different elements that touch certain domains that are sonically not quite frequent in heavy metal. We have the usual heavy metal things--the riffage, the solo sections, the odd melodic passage borrowed from power metal, etc. However, I personally felt a lot of things here have been a miss, more than a hit-and-miss.

There's a grand total of 14 songs on the album, which includes three covers and two "spoken" tracks containing just dialogues, one in Spanish and the other in Japanese. Wings of Reckoning starts off with one of these aforementioned dialogue tracks, the sinister "El Murcielago de la Muerte," which is marked by grim and ominous undertones. The atmosphere set in by this intro is something that's a pretty "change of place" kinda thing in the heavy metal that's come out this year so far. And if I'm being honest, I was pretty pumped about the rest of the stuff because I was expecting a bad boy of a skull-busting track chock full of the nastiest riffs. But instead, what comes out at the end of the eerie intro is a pretty lacklustre track in "Camazotz." Now this one has your standard heavy metal riffs and it takes a lot of time to even build up, and even when the chorus hits, its all just another run of the mill basic chorus with not much to impress or show for it--and that is also fine by me; I understand every intro+sequel track can't be like Gamma Ray's "Induction + Dethrone Tyranny" combo. But what I didn't really get is how the two polar opposite undertones of these tracks are even supposed to mesh together, or what the reason or meaning for it is. Furthermore, a lot of the riffage is pretty bland and tasteless and doesn't invoke any emotions or feelings. The incorporation of thrash is a bit poor as well, and a lot of things don't really feel like they belong there.


However, not all is doom and gloom with this one. There are certain songs on the album where the riffing is so on point you actually forget it came on this album. "Croghan" is one such track, and quite honestly, my favorite one too. It's got a nice down picked, classic 80's heavy metal styled riff sequence, and the riffage holds on for quite some time. The chorus is also pretty good and sounds catchy as well. Quite a few passages throughout the album are clearly derived from power metal and they seem to add a nice bit of flair to the music with the change in dynamics and melodies. And for all my complaining with the uninspiring riffage, the lead and solo sections are tasty as hell! For the brief duration of the solos, the world this album seems to produce just feels right, green and the most beautiful thing ever, and boy do I love the solos in my heavy metal to be such otherworldly creations! Full credit to the axemen here! Other songs like "Leviathan" and "Mouth Full of Sand" are right up there with "Croghan" in terms of songwriting and the way they sound. The cover songs that made the album viz. Ozzy's "Killer of Giants," Slayer's "Crionics" are very well executed, and Elmsfire's own added touch gives these songs are new dimension that's refreshing. Also I'd like to point out, this whole album, played in entirety at a live gig, would absolutely get the crowd going. The material is just like that--best suited for live gigs (usually where most folks come to mosh and get tanked) with the passages the songs have and the way they're arranged, and that is always a plus in my book.

All in all, "Wings of Reckoning" is, quite sadly, an effort that could have been so so much more than it was made out to be, and I think my disappointment majorly lies in this very fact. Tracks like "Croghan" and "Mouth Full of Sand" show exactly what this band is capable of and the heights they can go to but alas, we are unfortunately not shown a lot of that on the album. A decent part of the album sounds a like Priest, Accept and the like and even build up on that quite well but are sadly crumbled due to the weak links in the entire structure. I absolutely hate to be so critical of German bands (especially heavy metal) who have been doing it longer than a ton of today's newbies, and I think the constant changes may have had a drastic effect on this. Perhaps my own expectations were a bit different than what the album projected and what it turned out to be, but I believe they'll come out hard and stronger with their next release.

Elmsfire - 
Wings of Reckoning was released Sept. 25th, 2020

Elmsfire can be found:
Official Site
Facebook
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome!

    We provide thoughtful reviews of music that is heavy, gloomy...and loud enough to wake us from slumber. Written by a highfalutin peasantry!


    What are ye
    ​ 
    looking for?

    All
    2020
    420
    Acoustic
    Adam Paris
    Albums Of The Decade
    Albums Of The Year
    Alex Bringer Of Payne
    Alternative
    Alternative Metal
    Alternative Rock
    Alt Metal
    Alt Rock
    Ambient
    Ambient Metal
    Americana
    Ancient Hand
    Ancienthand
    Anti-imperialist
    AOR
    Aoty
    Apocalypse
    Art Rock
    Arzou
    Atmoblack
    Atmospheric
    Atmospheric Black Metal
    Atmospheric Doom
    Avant Garde
    Avant-garde
    Avant Garde Black Metal
    Avant Garde Death Metal
    Ballad
    Band Merch
    Bane Ov Silence
    Baroque Metal
    Beaston Lane
    Beatdown
    Bestial
    Best Of The Year 2018
    Blackened
    Blackened Crust
    Blackened Death
    Blackened Deathcore
    Blackened Death Metal
    Blackened Doom
    Blackened Grind
    Blackened Metal
    Blackened Punk
    Blackened Sludge
    Blackened Thrash
    Blackgaze
    Blackie Skulless
    Black Metal
    Black N Roll
    Black Thrash
    Blastbeasts
    Blastbeats
    Blood Metal
    Blues
    Blues Metal
    Blues Rock
    Breakcore
    Breakdown
    British Metal
    Brutal
    Brutal Death Metal
    Cantina
    Captain's Chronicles
    Captains Chronicles
    Capt Graves
    Carlos
    Cavern Death Metal
    Chaotic Death Metal
    Chaotic Hardcore
    Chaotic Metal
    Chinese Metal
    Chiptune
    Christian Metal
    Classic Albums
    Classical Crossover
    Classic Doom
    Classic Metal
    Classic Rock
    Comic
    Community Favorites
    Compilation
    Continuous Thunder
    Core
    Cosmic
    Cosmic Death Metal
    Country
    Cover Songs
    Crossover
    Crossover Thrash
    Crust
    Crust Punk
    Cyberpunk
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Metal
    Dark Pop
    Dark Rock
    D-beat
    Dbeat
    Deathcore
    Death Doom
    Death-doom
    Deathgrind
    Death Metal
    Death Thrash
    Debut Album
    Demo
    Depressive Black Metal
    Desert Rock
    Digital Hardcore
    Disco
    Dissonant
    Dissonant Black Metal
    Djent
    Doom
    Doom Death
    Doomgaze
    Doom Metal
    Doom Punk
    Doomviolence
    Double Review
    Dream Pop
    Dreampop
    Drone
    Dsbm
    Dungeons And Dragons
    Dungeon Synth
    Dungeon Synth Sunday
    Ecological
    Editorial
    Edm
    Electronic
    Electronic Rock
    Emo
    EP
    Epic Doom
    Epic Heavy Metal
    Epic Metal
    EP's
    Experimental
    Experimental Black Metal
    Experimental Electronic
    Extreme Metal
    Fantasy
    Favorite Music
    Finnish Metal
    Florida Death
    Folk
    Folk Black Metal
    Folk Metal
    Folk Rock
    Free Jazz
    Fresh Meat Friday
    Funeral Doom
    Fuzz
    Garage Rock
    German Heavy Metal
    Glam Metal
    Glam Rock
    Gore
    Goregrind
    Goth
    Gothic
    Gothic Metal
    Goth Metal
    Goth Rock
    Grind
    Grindcore
    Groove Metal
    Grunge
    Guest Post
    Guest Review
    Hair Metal
    Hallucinatory Black Death Metal
    Hardcore
    Hardcore Doom
    Hardcore Punk
    Hardcore Sludge
    Hard Rock
    Heavy Grinder
    Heavy Metal
    Heavy Psych
    Heavy Rock
    Hip Hip
    Hip Hop
    Horror
    Hxc
    Icelandic
    Immigrant Core
    Immigrind
    Indie
    Indie Rock
    Indonesia
    Industrial
    Industrial Metal
    Industrial Rock
    Instrumental
    Italian Metal
    Izzy
    Japanese Metal
    Jazz
    Legends
    Lichtmensch
    Lord Hsrah
    Lovecraft
    Loveloth
    Lunar Fanatic
    Mathcore
    Mathgrind
    Math Rock
    Melodeath
    Melodic Black Metal
    Melodic Death Metal
    Melodic Doom
    Melodic Metal
    Memorial
    Merch
    Metal
    Metalcore
    Metalhead World
    Metallic Hardcore
    METAL MENAGERIE
    Metal Reivews
    Metal Reviews
    Metalreviews
    Mid Year List
    Mid-year List
    Miscellaneous
    Modern Rock
    Murder Metal
    Music Review
    Music Video
    Mystic
    Negative Reviews
    Neofolk
    Nerdy
    New Age
    New Music
    Nintendocore
    Noise
    Noise Rock
    Nu Metal
    NWOBHM
    NWOTHM
    Occult
    Occult Rock
    Old School Death Metal
    OSDM
    Ozzy Osbourne
    Pagan Metal
    Peasantrys Picks
    Pirate Metal
    Pop
    Pop Metal
    Pop Punk
    Pop Rock
    Portal
    Post-black
    Post Black Metal
    Post-black Metal
    Post-classical
    Post Doom
    Post-doom
    Post-genre
    Post Hardcore
    Post-hardcore
    Post Metal
    Post-metal
    Post Punk
    Post-punk
    Post Rock
    Post-rock
    Post Sludge
    Post-sludge
    Power Electronics
    Power Metal
    Powerviolence
    Prehistoric
    Preorder
    Prog Metal
    Progressive Black Metal
    Progressive Death Metal
    Progressive Metal
    Progressive Rock
    Prog Rock
    Psychedelic
    Psych Rock
    Punk
    Punk Rock
    Raw Black Metal
    Raw Sludge
    Record Label
    Reese
    Reissue
    Relaxing
    Release Day Roundup
    Remix
    Re-recording
    Retro Rock
    Retrospective Review
    Review Off
    Review Redux
    Reviews
    Riffs
    Rock
    Rock N Roll
    Roots Rock
    Sabbath
    Sabbath Sunday
    Sadboi
    Saxophone
    Sci Fi
    Sci-fi
    Scorpi
    Screamo
    Shane Thirteen
    Shoegaze
    Short Reviews
    Singer-songwriter
    Ska
    Skramz
    Slam
    Sleeping Village Records
    Sleeping Village Sampler
    Slipknot
    Sludge
    Sludge Metal
    Soliloquist
    Solo Act
    Sound Design
    Soundtrack
    South America
    Southern Rock
    Space
    Space Rock
    Speed Metal
    Split
    Star Wars
    Statement Of Intent
    Stenchcore
    Stoner
    Stoner Doom
    Stoner Metal
    Stoner Rock
    Story Review
    Stream
    Surf Rock
    Swedeath
    Swedish Death Metal
    Symphonic Metal
    Synth
    Synth Metal
    Synthpop
    Synthwave
    Talesofdeception
    Tech Death
    Techdeath
    Technical Death Metal
    Texas
    The Administrator
    The Dungeon Awaits
    The Voiceless Apparation
    The Voiceless Apparition
    Thevoicelessapparition
    The Voiceless Appartition
    Thrash
    Thrashcore
    Thrash Metal
    Threefoldtreatise
    Tom
    Torture Doom
    Track-premiere
    Track Review
    Track Reviews
    Trad Doom
    Traditional Doom
    Traditional Metal
    Trad Metal
    Tribute Album
    True Doom
    Trve Doom
    Underground
    Usbm
    Vaporwave
    Vattghern
    Visual Review
    Volt Thrower
    War Metal
    Weird
    Zombie

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!