CIVILIZATION ONE — Calling the Gods (review)

CIVILIZATION ONE — Calling the Gods album cover

Album · 2012 · Power Metal

4/5 · 2012-12-20
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Calling the Gods is the second full-length album by power metal act Civilization One. The band, which after some line-up changes is currently mostly of German origin, are a multi-national act featuring musicians from Germany, France and Sri Lanka. Previously on their debut album, Revolution Rising (2007) they didn’t have any German members and included musicians from Italy and Brazil. Only vocalist Chity Somapala and bassist Pierre-Emmanuel Pélisson return in the line-up between albums, as Calling the Gods very nearly didn’t happen at all as Civilization One called it quits in 2010. Fortunately for power metal fans worldwide the line-up as it stood at that point got back together in 2012 and Calling the Gods finally saw a release.

Calling the Gods features music which can go one of two ways; pure melodic power metal or more balladry styled sections. The melodic power metal stuff is pretty easy to get into thanks to Chity Somapala’s excellent vocals which carry all the songs well, so it’s not so much an issue that the album does sometimes fall into the whole ‘power metal needs a bit of balladry’ trap that many bands have fallen victim to over the years, where the balladry parts disrupt the flow of the otherwise fast music. The band has a strictly song-driven approach to their music and while there are many examples of their creativity to be found you shouldn’t expect to hear anything that elaborate as nothing passes the five minute mark. But it’s a case of quality over quantity as each track uses every second well and although it may seem brief come its conclusion Calling the Gods most certainly delivers the goods and I’d highlight tracks such as The Land in Flames, Hell Awaiting and True Believer as some of the very best it has to offer.

Once you’ve heard both styles the album doesn’t have any surprises to throw at you, at least within its ten main tracks. There are also three bonus tracks. The first of them, Spirit in the Wind, is more or less business as usual for the album but the following two throw a real curveball on the whole experience. These latter two bonus tracks were written for the Sri Lankan market, one being for the Sri Lankan national cricket team and the other for the Sri Lankan Olympic team of the London 2012 games. The two tracks feature a marked departure from the sound of the main album and Spirit in the Wind. They’re not metal, much less power metal. It’s a good thing that they are bonus tracks otherwise they’d be grossly out of place on an album such as Calling the Gods. Apart from Chity’s vocals it sounds like a different band entirely. I guess for what they are these songs aren’t bad, but I am glad as bonus tracks I don’t have to take them into consideration for the score I want to give this album, as had they been a part of the main album there’s potential for it all to have fallen apart. The more regular balladry the band displays is tolerable, these would have ruined it. The promo package I received for the album even warns that these tracks would take some getting used to but sorry to say I think they are just too different to what fans of Civilization One’s main style would want to hear. A good showcase maybe of the versatility of the band, but nothing more. But the main album itself is great overall and most definitely recommendable, although it doesn’t manage to rank up with the year’s very best power metal releases for me.

80/100

(originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))