ANGBAND — Visions of the Seeker (review)

ANGBAND — Visions of the Seeker album cover Album · 2010 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Time Signature
Forgotten glory...

Genre: semi-progressive power metal

I had hoped for power metal with a lot of Persian elements in it, but on "Visions of the Seeker", Angband offers mainly American-style power metal, especially inspired by early Iced Earth it seems (I've read that there are some Persian elements on this album, but they've escaped my ears so far).

I think that most of the musical ideas work quite well on this album - even if it gets a bit monotonous at times. Mahyar Dean especially does a good job on the guitars I think - he certainly masters the art of keeping things simple. That is, he gets things done effectively without having to show off and do a lot of guitar wankery.

Tracks like "Easy to Believe", "Battle For...", "Fate and the Fear" and the Schuldineresque "Truth of Lies" are quite good.

The production is quit elo-fi, and perhaps substandard by power metal criteria, but I actually kind of like that, because the more fuzzy garage-like sound gives this release a more rocky edge, which I think that a lot of über polished power metal lacks nowadays. Also, we have to, in all fairness, remember that rock music is not exactly something that the totalitarian Islamistic government in Iran appreciates, so I can imagine that top notch and hyper modern recording studios are not commonplace there.

My major problem is that Angband is very untight in certain places on this album, and I wonder if they didn't have time to do second takes. The album would certainly have benefited from a more tight performance, as the lack of tightness disturbs the listening experience a bit.

Vocalist Ashkan Yazdani has a very special style of singing - maybe it's a Persian singing style, in which case I have nothing but respect for it, but it does take some getting used to, especially on tracks like "Astral Hallucination" and "Forsaken Dreams".

Recommended to power metal fans who are interested in the metal of the world - and who do not judge all music by the standard of modern western conditions.
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