FALCONER — Falconer (review)

FALCONER — Falconer album cover Album · 2001 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Falconer" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by Swedish folk/ power metal act Falconer. The album was released in May 2001 by Metal Blade Records. Falconer is the brainchild of Stefan Weinerhall who has composed all music written all lyrics for the album. Stefan Weinerhall plays all guitars and bass on the album. Vocals and keyboards are handled by Mathias Blad and the drums are played by Karsten Larsson. Ulrika Olovsson delivers occassional female vocals. The original album contains 10 tracks, but some versions include the bonus track Per Tyrssons Döttrar I Vänge, which is a rendition of a Swedish folk song. I highly recommend that you seek out a version which features the bonus track, because that track is quite the fantastic folk metal track.

The music on the album is power metal/ traditional heavy metal with medieval and Scandinavian folk elements ( and folky/ fantasy lyrics about Kings and Blacksmiths). The instrumentation does not include any unconventional ( for metal) instruments like it´s the case on many other folk metal albums. We´re talking bass, drums, guitar and keyboards. The music is delightfully energetic. The tempi varies between fast- and mid-paced. You´ll find both heavy riffing and lots of melodic lead work on the album but the greatest asset of this album is without a doubt the elastic and powerful vocal delivery of Mathias Blad. Now that´s one skilled and distinct sounding lead vocalist for you there. While the instrumental part of the music is definitely enjoyable in its own right, it´s the vocals that takes this album to a higher level. The album is highly consistent and there´s not a single weak track featured on the album, but tracks like "Heresy in Disguise", "Mindtraveller" and "Wings of Serenity" are among the strongest on the album.

The album is produced by legendary King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque and he has created a great powerful sound for the music.

I was introduced to Falconer the year after this album was released and I remember I listened to the album a lot. Then came a couple of years where I didn´t listen to the album and actually I didn´t know exactly what to expect when I brought the album out again for this review. Fortunately the album hasn´t lost any of it´s charm in the years where I didn´t listen to it and when I listen to it now, it still puts me in a good positive mood just like great power metal is suppossed to. I find this debut album by Falconer highly recommendable to fans of power metal/ traditional heavy metal with folk elements and a 4 star rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Traumatica Metalcore
NO GUERRA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Within the Visceria Death Metal
NECKBREAKKER
Buy this album from MMA partners
EP 1 Sludge Metal
CHAOTIC AGGRESSION
Buy this album from MMA partners
Songs of Blood and Mire Black Metal
SPECTRAL WOUND
Buy this album from MMA partners
Everything Hurts And I'm Dying Atmospheric Sludge Metal
NEGATIVE BLISS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Origin Of Infinity - Chronosphere (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO)
ORIGIN OF INFINITY
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Kingdom of Heaven - “Pleasures of Pain”
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Bosh66· 1 day ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 18 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 18 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 18 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed