JAVELIN — Fragments of the Inner Shadow (review)

JAVELIN — Fragments of the Inner Shadow album cover Album · 2013 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Time Signature
Enter the noodle shop...

Genre: power metal

Javelin's "Fragments of the Inner Shadow" is marketed as a prog power metal album, so I naturally expected something along the lines of Symphony X, Pyramaze or Royal Hunt. That's not quite what I got, because there really is nothing progressive about this album. Power metal, yes, and good power metal, I should say, but not prog power metal.

Heavily influenced by the likes of Iron Maiden and Iced Earth, Javelin treat the listener to plenty of noodling twin guitar parts. Let it be known that I love noodles (in fact I'm enjoying a pot of chicken noodles at this very moment). Let it also be known that I love twin guitars. Thus, noodling twin guitars in not a bad thing to me. Indeed, a track like 'Birth of a Plague' features some intricate twin guitar leads. Another attractive feature of this album is Carsten Hille's soaring and powerful, yet edgy vocals, which are totally free of the cheese one might otherwise associate with European power metal. It is his vocals that give the power ballad 'Healing' its unique character. Observing the principles of power metal, Javelin include several instances of pounding double bass drums, and the chorises are larger than live. A track like 'Falling' even verges of power-thrash metal.

The production is perhaps a bit fuzzy, and the performance is not always tight but that just gives the album an air of underground authenticity (it is released on Pure Underground after all), and an almost live feel.

Overall, this is a solid album which is characterized by big melodies and soaring vocals, and it is definitely in a cheese-free vein of power metal. Fans of Iron Maiden and Iced Earth are bound to like it.
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