REBELLION — Shakespeare's MacBeth - A Tragedy of Steel (review)

REBELLION — Shakespeare's MacBeth - A Tragedy of Steel album cover

Album · 2002 · Power Metal

3.5/5 · 2011-07-09
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Shakespeare's MacBeth - A Tragedy in Steel (herein referred to as just ‘MacBeth’) is the debut album from German Power Metal band Rebellion which was released in 2002. As I’m sure you can deduce from the name it’s a metal adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic MacBeth. For me at least this is the only way I can tolerate Shakespeare. The band, for those unaware, was formed by ex-Grave Digger members Uwe Lulis (guitar) and Tomi Göttlich (bass).

Speaking as someone familiar with the band’s entire discography to date, MacBeth does stand as their weakest album. The album is difficult to get into due to the presence of a lot of narration, which instead of appearing in a bunch of transitional tracks often turns up within the actual songs, which ruins the impact that those songs can have, which is a shame because although Rebellion would go on to write much more powerful material, when they get going the album is generally strong in its own right, although Rebellion would go on to write much more coherent albums. The sound here I would described as Theatrical Power Metal, and I’m confident in my belief that depending on your disposition to theatre (and Shakespeare in particular), that the theatrics will be a make a break thing for you as far as this album is concerned.

Since I’m a major fan of these guys, I can honestly say that I enjoy this album much more than I think a newcomer to the band will. I cannot in any way recommend this as a starting point for this great band, in fact I will always have MacBeth down as the album to come to last. Any of the four following full-lengths will serve much better as an introduction, because here we have what is best described as a band still finding their sound. The album still has many praiseworthy attributes though, and just because the album is difficult, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t unrewarding for those with a bit of perseverance.

The vocals of singer Michael Seifert (Black Destiny, Xiron, Wolfchant) are, as always, a particular treat as he’s one of a handful of singers in a European power metal band that I know that has a rougher aggressive edge to his voice. I know I draw this comparison way too often to the point that I must sound like a broken record but if you imagine the vocals of Matt Barlow (ex-Iced Earth, ex-Pyramaze) and then add an extra layer of metal aggression then Michael Seifert is what you get. Needless to say this, backed by the heavy guitars and the fact that the band does not rely on keyboards in their power metal sound, makes Rebellion in my mind one power metal act from Europe that I feel will appeal more to USPM fans.

I do enjoy MacBeth a lot despite the negative moments I felt I had to put into this review. But even as a fan of the band it took me several listens to really get into it. The narration, while understandably needed for the concept, is generally a hindrance to enjoying otherwise awesome songs such as the thirteen minute beast Husbandry in Heaven. It nearly always comes as a kick in the teeth just when the songs seem to be getting epic. In general as well this album does feature the weaker Rebellion material, though that’s understandable since this is their debut. The best song would have to be the early Disdaining Fortune.

This is one case where I have to be honest, the score I give it is going to be different based on whether I rate the album from an objective or subjective point of view. Personally despite some quibbles I do think the album is solid enough to warrant a score of around 8/10, but objectively that seems too high and a 6/10 would be more appropriate so I’m going to the next best thing and go straight down the middle of those two. This is a shaky but decent enough first offering, but it is generally avoidable for anyone but the band’s biggest fans like myself.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scoring 7.0/10)