PENDRAGON — Men Who Climb Mountains (review)

PENDRAGON — Men Who Climb Mountains album cover Album · 2014 · Non-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Losimba
To make it short, Men Who Climb Mountains is exactly the album one expects from Pendragon. The title is an added bonus for me, as I like to climb mountains myself, although there is no song literally about my hobby on the album. But I read this in Nick's ramblings last summer, so no disappointment here.

The first two songs, Belle Amie and Beautiful Soul, the titles identical in meaning but in French and English respectively, are fine appetizers of what's to come. On other albums this slow intro followed by a fine rocker have been merged to longer openers, but they definitely work as separate tracks. Come Home Jack then reminds me a wee bit of Voyager from The World which is neither very original nor bad. The only little weakness of the album is nondescript In Bardo, but this is more than cancelled out by the following wonderful ballad Faces Of Light. If a title with "light" is immediately followed by the same title just with "darkness" one would expect a stark contrast, and the next track doesn't disappoint with its driving beat. The last three tracks are quite typical Pendragon songs, each with one instrument providing the extra bit. While the end section of For When The Zombies Come is far slower and bluesier than its counterpart in my favourite Pendragon song, Am I Really Losing You?, I can imagine to love it equally after I'll have heard it several times more. While I couldn't hear out an extraordinary solo section in Explorers Of The Infinite which IS something that can be associated with mountain climbing, it has one of the best bass lines I've heard in the last 5 years. Finally, Netherworld is defined by the good keyboard work, especially the section where the keys sound like a blues guitar.

Had Pendragon never published The World and The Window Of Life, this album would have straight 5 stars. But they have, so the bonus for originality cannot be applied, but my rating remains between 4 and 4.5 stars with a tendency to the higher rating.
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

Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Reclamation Of I Metalcore
IMMINENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 10 hours ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 10 hours ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 6 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 6 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