TEN — Stormwarning (review)

TEN — Stormwarning album cover Album · 2011 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Time Signature
Endless symphony...

Genre: AOR / melodic heavy metal

Ten are known for their style of melodic metal meets AOR meets hard rock, and this album certainly is a quite hard rocking affair which offers catchy melodies, classic 80s metal style riffage and awesome guitar solos.

The music is marked by a touch of melancholy, which is in part attributable to Gary Hughes' voice and in part to the musical compositions themselves. Tracks like "Centre of my Universe", "Book of Secrets", "The Hourglass and the Landslide", and "Destiny" are good examples of melancholic yet hard rocking tracks which emphasize melody and accessibility. The title track falls under the same category, but is, with its use of guitar harmonies in the main riff and power metal-like elements, a notch above the rest. "Invisible" is more of a straight rocker, which is still at bit melancholic and contains a quite cool classic 80s metal chorus. The opening track "Endless Symphony" is, not surprisingly, a symphonic rock/metal track with some pretty nice metal guitar riffage and amazing guitar work.

I've read some negative reviews of this album which criticize Ten for not being inventive enough and too formulaic, but, personally, I don't think that "Stormwarning" is boring or uninteresting - although tracks like the pop-rock songs "Kingdom Come", "Love Song", "The Hourglass and the Landslide", and "The Wave" may be too commercial and soft for some metalheads (I like those songs though) - but I do agree that we are not dealing with innovative music here. And so what? It's still awesome!

On a side note, fans of Fates Warning might take interest in this album as it features Mark Zonder on drums - but don't expect progressive and complex drumming; Zonder provides solid and straight drumming, which fits Ten's style perfectly.

If you like AOR and melodic metal, then you should check out this album. Do not expect it to be innovative or groundbreaking, but expect instead solid melodic hard rock / heavy metal which is catchy and accessible but still meaningful and sophisticated.
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

A Sonication Technical Death Metal
OBSCURA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
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