Metal Reviews

This is probably how I'd rank them too - although, I might even slide Red Silent Tides above Two Tragedy Poets (that album has a couple songs that I skip - interestingly, I don't feel the need to skip ANY songs on Red Silent.)

Yeah, its a toss up for me between the two.

Then call me a fan of obnoxious pop rock.

Zad - I haven't been on board for too long as a reviewer, but I can tell from being involved in MR for so long is that if we pay a greater emphasis on one side of metal Power/True/NWOB/S/A/M or Death/Black/Thrash, people are bound to complain that they want more of the shortage. Simple supply and demand. The price drives up if there is less of it. Case in point how DeBeers makes all their money.

Have to agree with most of the posts, while it is surprising that a band that made their mark combining folk and metal in such a direct way (strong folk elements and traditional acoustic instruments with power metal) on their 1st few albums, I have to say I'm hooked---I really like this album. Yes, it uses a lot of familiar power metal, hard rock, and even modern pop/rock elements, but the guitar work and vocals are excellent as usual and the songs and choruses are catchy as hell through pretty much all 11 tracks. That's no easy feat no matter how much you may consider them doing "nothing new" here.

Also, as far as the vanishing folk elements, if you had never heard Elvenking before (or much other folk metal/rock) you would probably think this album had quite a bit of folk influence. Point being, to longtime fans of the band it has diminished quite a bit, but it is still very much there in a lot of the melodies and some of the instrumentation. Just more of an "influence" on this one than a direct component.

While I would agree with most and say that The Winter Wake is their high water mark/signature album so far, I have to give these guys credit, they have done something markedly different on every album since. The heavier, death/thrash/punk elements of The Scythe, the all but completely acoustic Two Tragedy Poets, and now the more straight-ahead, melodic metal/rock approach of this one. They definitely have offered something different---for them---each time out while, I think, still sounding like Elvenking. How many bands would have "struck gold" so to speak with an album like The Winter Wake . . . and then just tried to keep recreating it over and over again?

Certainly not everything has worked. While I actually grew to like The Scythe, I still cringe everytime I hear those transitional, spoken word abortions of poetry they tried on that one (and thankfully only briefly as an intro to this one). And, yes, Two Tragedy Poets feels more like a grab bag of songs than a true album (though there are many phenomenal tracks). Nevertheless I applaud their resolve to not repeat themselves.

Overall, while I do miss the overt folks elements fused with super-crunchy metal guitars that made The Winter Wake and the earlier albums so unique, Red Silent Tides is a uniformly strong collection of catchy as hell folk and commercial rock influenced metal. If that's bad, then I like bad.

Completely agree