UMUR "Across The Seven Seas" is the debut full-length studio album by multi-national power metal act Artlantica. The album was released through Steamhammer/SPV in May 2013. Artlantica is a supergroup of sorts, featuring a lineup which consists of members/former members of acts like Angel of Eden, Artension, Royal Hunt, Ark and Yngwie J. Malmsteen. In addition to that "Across The Seven Seas" features guest appearances by prolific names like Steve Digiorgio (bass) and Chris Caffery (guitars).

...and the quality of the musicianship is one of the first things you notice when listening to "Across The Seven Seas". These guys can play/sing with their eyes closed and still produce something decent, that´s how skilled they are. Stylistically the music style on the album isn´t much of a surprise if you take into consideration which acts the involved musicians have played/play with. This is what I like to call Rainbow type Euro power metal, which in my world is Euro Power metal with a lot of traditional heavy metal elements and some neoclassical leanings. Actually not too far removed from some of Yngwie J. Malmsteen´s vocal tracks. So while tracks like "Devout" and "Fight for the Light" are relatively high paced, this is not "pedal to the metal" double bass drum Euro power metal by any means. Keyboards play a central role in the music, but the spotlight is predominatly shining on lead vocalist John West.

The 10 tracks on the 47:37 minutes long album vary from relatively fast-paced power metal to more epic sounding traditional heavy metal tracks, but the band have found room for a ballad too in "Ode to My Angel". It´s a very mainstream oriented track, which could easily be played on regular rock radions, maybe except for the blistering guitar solo featured on the track. You can say what you want about the inclusion of such a track on a heavy metal album, but it´s damn well composed. The lyrics reek of clíches, that a hundred other bands have done before, but I´m sure it´ll win over a couple of the more soft oriented heavy metal fans. You know the kind of listeners that love to put the lighter in the air during concerts, when the band are playing ballads.

All in all "Across The Seven Seas" is a high quality release, featuring great musicianship and skillful songwriting. I find the sound production a bit thin sounding though and especially the drum sound score low in my book. Unfortunately it has a negative impact on how powerful I think the music sounds, and therefore my rating is slightly lower than the actual quality of the music deserves. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is warranted.

J-Man Although a supergroup of seasoned metal veterans will not always result in a great collaborative effort, it's tough to imagine too many progressive and power metal fanatics not having their interest piqued by Artlantica, a band featuring musicians that have played with acts like Artension, Royal Hunt, and Ark (to name just a few). The band's debut, 2013's Across The Seven Seas, even features the legendary Steve DiGiorgio on bass and Savatage's Chris Caffery guesting on guitar - and, if you can stop drooling about the lineup long enough to listen to the music, you'll also discover that the band has some damn impressive progressive-edged power metal to offer its listeners. Played in the heavy-edged US power metal tradition, Across The Seven Seas' sound is rounded off with some seriously progressive moments (just listen to the instrumental “Return of the Pharoah, Pt. 3”!) and plenty of symphonic flourishes courtesy of keyboard virtuoso Mistheria.

Killer power metal tracks like “2012”, “Demon In My Mind”, and “Heresy” help make up for the rather syrupy “Ode to My Angel” and some of the album's lyrical faults (seriously guys, the 2012 apocalypse conspiracy was a joke long before it didn't happen!), but none of these shortcomings are significant enough to diminish this great debut. Fans of melodic and progressive-edged power metal that still has plenty of aggressive bite will have no trouble enjoying what Artlantica has to offer!

adg211288 Across The Seven Seas (2013) is the debut full-length album by multi-national power metal act Artlantica. The band is made up of musicians with backgrounds in the bands Artension and Angel of Eden and revolves around three core musicians; John West (vocals), Roger Staffelbach (guitars) and Mistheria (keyboards). The drums on the album are shared by John Macaluso (HolyHell, Mastercastle et al) and Dani Löble (Helloween) while the bass is performed by none other than Steve Digiorgio (Sadus, Soen, Charred Walls of the Damned et al). Finally additional guitars are performed by Chris Caffery (Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra). Across the Seven Seas boasts quite the all star line-up in other words.

The first thing that strikes me about the album though is not the music itself, but rather the lyrics to the opening song, 2012. Sorry guys but I think you’re releasing your album a tad late to have jumped on that particular bandwagon. The whole 2012 doomsday thing was, especially seeing that we’re still here, a complete media farce used to make money and was overdone well before December 21st 2012, that having a song about it released after the non-event seems like a bit of milking the cow for all its worth. It’s a nice enough song though, nothing too remarkable and certainly not an album highlight, but it does let the listener know what sort of thing to expect from Across the Seven Seas, that is more or less a by the book melodic power metal sound, with occasional ventures into progressive power metal territory, and some symphonic backings. That’s okay though, because not only does Artlantica utilise enough of the progressive and symphonic elements to continually spice up their music, but they’ve also got a really strong power metal sound going to begin with. Especially vocalist John West is really quite stunning with his vocal performance; so full of energy I’m sure he’ll win just about anyone over.

Across the Seven Seas is a solid debut effort from the band, with some songs standing out over others. Demon in my Mind is one I want to mention especially for the way it welds together progressive instrumental passages and a catchy power metal anthem, of which they have a few of including Devout and Fight for the Light. The only real downer for me is the piano led ballad Ode to My Angel. Throughout the rest of the album Artlantica have a really great energy of the sort that only a power metal act worth their salt has, but as with many albums before Across the Seven Seas all that energy evaporates when the ballad hits. Fortunately the song also represents a turning point for the album, as the first half had, mostly due to this song, been inconsistent, whereas as soon as Ode to My Angel is over the album really steps things up a gear.

On the instrumental Return of the Pharaoh Part 3 (a follow up to the pair of songs by Angel of Eden) the band goes all out progressive metal, showcasing what is perhaps the biggest issue with Across the Seven Seas, there’s just not enough progressive elements in the album, and Artlantica certainly show that this is where their real strengths lie. They’ve still great with the more traditionally styled power metal songs but Across the Seven Seas does show them to be better at both the progressive power metal and the more traditional progressive metal heard on Return of the Pharaoh Part 3. There are creative flairs to be found across the ten tracks, but rather than satisfying it just leaves me craving more, and not in the good way that would keep me listening to the album many times over.

Across the Seven Seas is a great debut release, there’s no denying that, but it is one I think Artlantica has every chance of improving on so long as the project doesn’t go the same way as Angel of Eden with only their one album released since 2007. A great album tier rating is deserved and if that ballad hadn’t stalled the album it would have been an exceptional grade.

84/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/artlantica-across-the-seven-seas-t2986.html)