HOLY FORCE — Holy Force (review)

HOLY FORCE — Holy Force album cover Album · 2011 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
The Block
Holy Force’s debut is easily one of the best power metal releases of 2011. With most of their members originating from progressive and heavy metal backgrounds the music on this album takes the best of both traditional, power, and progressive (albeit not much, though) and blends it into a great album. The power metal sections of the album definitely lean towards European power metal, which immediately indicates epic riffs and catchy choruses, swirled around neoclassical leanings. Another great thing about this album is Mike LePond. If you recognize his name, you should. He’s the bassist of Symphony X, and a great one at that. Besides him there’s Ango Chen, the mastermind behind Holy Force, and Mark Boals, who have both played with Yngwie Malmsteen. Rounding it off is former Manowar drummer Kenny Earl, who definitely makes this a supergroup of sorts.

The music is pretty guitar driven, which is understandable considering the lead man, Ango Chen plays guitar. That being said, everyone gets their chance to shine on this album and overall this album is very balanced. The shredding on this album is absolutely tremendous, and comes in both classic and neoclassical form. Most of the songs are heavy driven, powered by great drumming from Kenny Earl, but there are a select few songs, such as “Sky Etude” which a happy, cheery, and upbeat. One weird thing about “Sky Etude” is that it’s a piano etude, which is very good and all, but no one on this album plays piano, at least it’s not noted anywhere. That brings up the question, did they program it? Hopefully that is not the case, but I don’t know.

Overall the musicianship on this album is top notch, and it’s made all the better by the great compositions that make up the album. Any fan of power metal or heavy metal should definitely look into this great 2011 release, and I’m sure they won’t be let down. 4 stars is surely deserved here.
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J-Man wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Ango Chen is the keyboard player here.

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