SKELATOR — Agents of Power (review)

SKELATOR — Agents of Power album cover Album · 2012 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Agents of Power" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US heavy metal act Skelator. The album was released through Metal on Metal Records in April 2012. Skelator were formed in 1998 and released a couple of demos and EPs before releasing their debut full-length studio album "Give Me Metal or Give Me Death " in 2008.

The band initially started out playing a more speed metal oriented style, but on "Agents of Power" the music is through and through traditional heavy metal. There are several references in the music to two of the greats of the genre in Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, but Skelator aren´t as such clones. They just use elements of the two band´s sound and combine them with their own take on traditional heavy metal. Not completely unlike a lot of other artists in the genre. So you´ll be treated to melodic harmony guitars and heavy riffing, galloping rhythms, fantasy lyrics, and a lead vocalist that can both deliver higher pitched epic singing and slightly more raw ditto. There´s also an occcasional nod towards folk rock/metal in the band´s sound.

"Agents of Power" features 16 tracks where the first 4 tracks on the album are individual tracks and the remaining tracks form a concept story titled "Elric: The Dragon Prince (A Tale of Tragic Destiny in 12 Parts)", based on science fiction and fantasy writer Michael Moorcock's tales about the antihero character of Elric and his fateful symbiosis with the Stormbringer sword. The concept works pretty well with some spoken narrative between the more "regular" heavy metal tracks. It´s all very epic and probably a bit cheesy to some listeners, but Skelator are relatively convincing at what they do.

The album features a decent sounding production (the bass drums aren´t that well sounding though), and both the musicianship and the songwriting are of relatively high standards, so overall "Agents of Power" is a quality traditional heavy metal release by Skelator. They lack that last originality to elevate them to an even higher level, but a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.
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UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
It´s not really my poison, but still a good quality release.
666sharon666 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I remember listening to this years ago and thinking it was pretty good. Haven't gone back to it since then though.

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