Cryonic - Evil Mind
SwedMetal
Heavy / Power Metal
10 songs (39'44)
Release year: 2007
Cryonic website
Reviewed by Chris

Cryonic are a Swedish metal band, and on their website you can read "We are the new metalkings from Sweden". Well kings may be a bit pushing it if you ask me. Especially when you mention Sweden. I mean okay the guys would be from Burkina Faso (my apologies if there already is another metalking band there ;) ) or better yet from another planet then I would say ok they are the king of metal there, but Sweden ? common :) ...

Jokes aside this band plays with passion that is for sure. They love metal and they display their love of this genre in what appear to be their debut album (after having released a demo in 2006 called Rising). My main impression after a few listens of this album is that while Cryonic have good intentions they have almost nothing original to even distinguish themselves from the overcrowded see of Power Metal bands, when actually there are MANY points in which the band needs to progress : the lead singer, well, is no Tobias Sammet, André Matos or Joacim Cans for that matter (to name someone from Sweden). The high shouts are interesting but they display a big lack of experience and sound almost winy at times. The choirs are fortunately better and help Cryonic music be more digestible. The second point where the band needs to progress is the production (and the mix), their sound is not as clear as nowadays acts from the same category (don't get me wrong though, its not as bad as the typical italian power metal album releases of the 90's, except for Rhapsody and a chosen few bands of course). Then the keys, if you're gonna use keyboards, then make sure you don't use the ridiculous sounds that can be found on the song Spirit, sound reminiscent of bad B-horror movies from the 70's, or the Fisher Price kiddy-learns-music keyboard ring from the song Prophecy Man, and don't get me started on the keys' sound on Call For Freedom ! In the end of the day, there are some good idea and some great tunes like Coldblood, Evil Mind (excellent though short solo), Promised Land or even some parts of Fireball. But the album is also heavy on moments that you will forget as soon as you've listened to them, and filler songs. The band has no ace in their game, meaning that they don't have one area (like say stellar vocals, awesome composition, originality,... not even good artwork/logo) where they stand strong enough to be contenders in their categories. Every part of the band must evolve (but mostly the lead singer and keyboard player as some of their weaknesses are more than transparent from the first listens) for Cryonic to really make an impact in the Power Metal scene, but this Evil Mind is a step in the right direction and an honorable debut album.

In the end I would say its a type of Hammerfall spawn band, that could call themselves metal servants (I'll give you that), but in no way metalkings. Now if the band develops their style and improves their songwriting as well as lead vocals, they could become an interesting band, no doubts there, but today this album, while a good achievement for a debut album, holds no candle to the masters of the style like Lost Horizon, Edguy, Bloodbound, Hammerfall (once upon a time the ultimate masters, now a bit overrated imho) and many more. You'll excuse the non-exhaustive list, but if I should mention all the bands that are in top shape in the Power Metal category, this review will probably be many pages. So Cryonic is a good debuting band if you're an aficionados of Power Metal and must own everything in this category. But the band still needs to evolve. If they do they could become something that I have no doubt, they display some really good moments during the album, but often they're erased by some bad choices a few moments later. Try before you buy.

Killing Songs :
Evil Mind, Coldblood, Fireball & Promised Land.
Chris quoted 63 / 100
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There are 2 replies to this review. Last one on Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:58 pm
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