Few record labels impress me more than Limb Music. Label owner R. Limb Schnoor—manager of Keeper Of The Seven Keys-era Helloween—takes it a step further than most labels and gives the fans something more than just the music to chew on. The artwork and packaging for virtually all of Limb’s releases is excellent, generally fantasy-based, but always of the very highest standard. Their albums often have an extensive booklet (in this case 22-pages thick) that includes more great artwork, band photos, lyrics and they always include The Story So Far…, a history of the band that gives fans a little insight into who they’re listening to. In many instances there are also liner notes about each individual song, words from the band explaining what the songs are about, how and when they were written, or any number of other little insights that you’d otherwise never know. And this is just on the regular releases. The limited edition releases have bonus tracks, bonus CDs with complete live shows or more bonus tracks (demos, live tracks, alternate takes, etc.), or bonus DVDs with studio footage, live shows, backstage nonsense, life on the road documentary-like pieces, and even posters, stickers and little things that would seem insignificant alone, but together makes one hell of a package! Limb Music delivers the goods in ways that virtually all other labels wouldn’t dare to do. Heavenseeker, the follow-up to 2003’s Legends From Now And Nevermore, by Germany’s Galloglass, is no exception.

Artwork and packaging, of course, means very little when it comes to the music. Galloglass had the difficult task of following up a debut that, while not without flaws, was a very solid slab of power metal. They, however, were up to the task. Legends From Now And Nevermore lacked a little bit of identity. While it was executed well, and the songs were great, the album kind of flashed before you without leaving a distinct impression simply because it wasn’t so different from many other bands out there, bands that we’ve known for a lot longer. This time around the band takes a step beyond the shadows of their power metal brethren. They’ve not completely carved out their own little niche in the genre, but they’re seemingly on their way to doing so.

The first thing I noticed about Heavenseeker is the added dynamics to a lot of the songs. “Burden Of Grief” starts things in typical German power metal fashion, great song, great hook, but nothing out of the norm. The next track, “After Forever,” is where the band sheds their old skin; the violin intro accompanied by thrashy riffs opens the door a crack, but the aggressive vocals—a few stops short of death metal in spots—kick it wide open. This newfound aggressiveness is repeated on other tracks, sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t work so well. “After Forever” is a song that I feel it doesn’t work so well as it sort of detracts from overall quality of the song, which is otherwise excellent if not lacking slightly in the hook department. “Behind The Mirror,” on the other hand, uses the death-like vocals to add depth to the verse, accentuating the clean vocals, a negative to the positive, all leading up to an awesome chorus that reminds of prog-metal and is surrounded by an old school nod to 80’s thrash metal. “Perished In Flames” is a heavy and catchy power metal anthem, while “Dawn Of A New Age” is a bit lighter in sound, showcasing a chorus that could have been written by the newly renamed Rhapsody Of Fire.

“Banished From Eternity,” for me, is the highlight of the album; violins flow through the beginning until the verse kicks in, mid-paced with some slight death metal-ish vocals in the distant background and leading into a thrashy chant-filled pre-chorus that opens into a stunning chorus highlighted by harmonized female vocals. I could do without the short mid-section rant before the solo (you’ll have to hear it), but otherwise the song is just awesome. “At The Shadowcross” and “To Kneel Is To Suffer” are both catchy, mid- to fast-paced melodic power metal anthems while “Heavenseeker” and “Signs” go for the throat with more power metal meets thrash metal with hook-laden choruses and excellent solo work, the former being the heavier of the two. “Kings Who Die” is something like a campfire ballad you’d hear from Blind Guardian, it picks up towards the middle, but is never very heavy; a great song in its own right and a low-key, somber end to fairly frenetically-paced album.

The limited edition of this album (limited to 4,000 worldwide) includes a 22-page booklet that features lyrics, song-by-song descriptions from the band, and the typical The Story So Far… band history. The regular disc features two bonus tracks, “Golden Years” and “Fragments.” Both songs could very well have been included on the main album, these are not total leftovers tracks. “Golden Years” is more of a heavy rocker than it is a power metal song, the chorus is a little subdued and less bombastic, but still very memorable. “Fragments” is another heavy thrasher with double-bass, a heavy riff-laden verse, more aggressive (not death) vocals and a decidedly less catchy chorus, but still a good song, just not quite up to the standard of some other tracks, the weaker of the two bonus tracks.

A bonus DVD is also included in the limited edition version and features over 100 minutes of footage. The DVD includes The Making Of Heavenseeker, a documentary that is over 30 minutes long, one that I found to be very interesting, but the band speaks in German, so I was essentially just watching it and only listening when it showed the band playing. Subtitles would have made this section far more enjoyable, but beggars can’t be choosers, or, apparently, German. There is also a slideshow of photos from the studio and from the photo shoots, plus a 10-minute moving video montage of those photography sessions. Again everything is in German, but it’s interesting to see more of the photo locations, and there are a few random comedic bits like the woman who obliviously walks between the photographer and band. The best part—worth the price alone—is the live portion of the DVD. The footage was taken from a show in Wilhelmshaven, Germany in 2004. It’s a multi-camera/angle video recording, the sound quality is excellent and professionally done and the band sounds excellent. This could have been a strictly DVD-only release. It’s that good. It features ten tracks and an intro and outro; they play seven songs from Legends From Now And Nevermore and three from Heavenseeker—which hadn’t been released at the time of the recording.

Galloglass have released a great album with Heavenseeker. The album moves swiftly along for almost the entire album, but it does hit a few speed bumps along the way that slow it down slightly, but overall the band is on the right track with an improvement over their debut full-length. Since the release of this album last October, bassist Dirk Zelmer was replaced by ex-Taraxacum bassist Shaker Elmosa, and Carsten Frank, while he was a very good vocalist in his own right, was replaced by current Threshold vocalist Andrew McDermott, a very high quality upgrade that can only aid the band on future releases. Both Legends From Now And Nevermore and Heavenseeker would be great additions to any power metal fan’s collection.

MP3: Banished From Eternity, Dawn Of A New Age, Burden Of Grief, Signs, Kings Who Die and Golden Years (Bonus Track) (Clips)

VIDEO: Trailer for Limited Edition DVD

Note: In time these links will likely becoming outdated.