(Melodic Power Metal) [CD] Balflare - 2 Альбома (Japanese Edition): 2008 - Sleeping Hollow (Reissued 2010) & 2012 - Downpour: 2008-2012, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

#777Balflare is a melodic power metal band from Japan. Unlike most Japanese bands, Balflare are not overtly neo-classical; instead, they are solidly in the school of early Sonata Arctica, with plenty of catchy melodies and choruses. On Sleeping Hollow, their third album, they serve up more of the same speedy power metal that they showed us with their debut and sophomore efforts.

The first impression you get from this album is pure power metal; after a few-second ambient-ish intro, the first track pummels you with double-bass drums and glorious keyboard melodies. A full two-thirds of the tracks on here are in the same vein, with only one real ballad (confusingly placed at the end of the album) and a nine-minute mid-paced epic. The ballad, Pray For Rosalia, is definitely the worst song on the album, with the vocalist attempting to do "gentle" vocals which fall completely flat.

All failed attempts at emotional singing aside, the vocalist is decent. He has a strong accent and you can tell right from the get-go that this guy is Japanese. He also has a quavering style that occasionally strays slightly off-key. Mostly, though, he gets the job done. The lyrics are hard to understand due to the mangled pronunciation, but for me, the main draw of this album is the instrumental side of things.

Keyboard fetishists such as myself will love this album. Every song is drenched in strings, piano, harpsichord and, to my chagrin, orchestra hits. When the vocalist isn't providing the melody, the keyboards are ready to jump in and pick up where he left off. While not a symphonic band, Balflare definitely implement elements of that style, with a few small symphonic interludes strewn throughout the songs. There are also the obligatory keyboard solos, which are technically impressive and very fun to listen to.

The guitar riffs will please the weathered power metal fan, and they are indeed a slight improvement over "standard power metal riffs", but diehard fans of thrash metal and such genres will be disappointed with the guitar work. The guitars are somewhat overshadowed by the vocals and keyboards, but shine through enough to be heard clearly. There are occasional melodic guitar leads as well, which are used sparingly enough so that when they happen, they really catch your attention. The guitar solos, like the keyboard solos, show obvious instrumental skill and don't rely on neo-classicism to get their point across.

The rhythm section of this band is more forgettable. The bass almost never deviates from what the guitar is doing and is not worth trying to listen to. The drums are also not very exciting, providing standard power metal beats with only the occasional drum fill to break the monotony. However, both these instruments provide a solid backdrop for the other instruments to do their thing.

The best way to describe the sound of this album is "wintry". The strings and harpsichord sound very frigid and precise, providing a cold atmosphere, while the crystal-clear production emphasizes this point. The melodies are cheery but never strive to be "epic", with the exception of the nine-minute track "The Eye Of Pharaoh", which uses heptatonic scales to create an Egyptian atmosphere that doesn't really jibe with what the rest of the album is trying to accomplish.

Any fan of Sonata Arctica or Stratovarius would find a lot to like on this album. More than half of the tracks on offer here are absolute power metal gold. A few weak tracks (including a lame spoken interlude thingy found halfway through the album) bring down the overall quality slightly, but the fact remains that this is a great album from a criminally underappreciated band. If you like the "flowery" side of power metal at all, you will like this.

Review written by Charlo for www. metal-archives.com

#777After the 2008 release of "Sleeping Hollow", Balflare kind of dropped off the earth. Their website wasn't being updated. Their MySpace was barren, back when other people were still using it. I feared the worst: that they had lapsed into an indefinite hiatus, and we would never get a follow-up to what was probably the best Japanese power metal album ever. This thought saddened me greatly. I tried to ease the pain with other Japanese releases, but I found them to be lacking, despite sharing the same superficial characteristics: hyper-speedy and hyper-melodic. Balflare was my one, my only, and I mourned.

Then Balflare reappeared out of nowhere with a preview of their new album, and my life instantly went from a cloudy, drizzly trudge through depression to a vibrant, exciting life that was worth living again. Inevitably, doubts began to creep in; would this new album live up to the expectations they sowed with the previous album? Could they even sniff the glorious atmospheres that had been showcased?

The answer: mostly! "Downpour" picks up right where "Sleeping Hollow" left off; there are no large changes in style. Everything you would expect is present, and for the most part, it is just as good as previous efforts.

On initial listens, one thing becomes clear: this band loves dem keyboards. This is not a departure in any way; all three of Balflare's prior albums featured much in the way of that instrument. However, "Downpour" ramps up the keyboard atmospherics past 11, past 12, all the way to 20. There is not one second of this album that does not feature strings or harpsichords in the background. I am not joking when I say this. Every fucking second of this album features the keyboardist to some degree. Guitar lead-work is essentially nonexistent save for a few pre-solo licks; if there are no vocals going on at the moment, it falls on the keyboardist to drive along the melody, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

As is the case with many Euro-styled power metal bands, the riffs serve no purpose other than to provide a heavy base on which to layer melodies, the same role that the bass guitar plays in a more "conventional" metal band. As there is exactly one riff in the entire Balflare discography that compels me to dust off the ol' air-guitar, you can be sure that you will not even think about the guitars on this album. The conversation in the studio probably went, "Hey guitarist, just go stand in the corner and play sixteenth-note power chords. We'll let you know when we need a solo."

Speaking of solos, they are fast and plentiful. If you're one of those people who likes slow, contemplative solos filled with emotion, I have two words: FUCK OFF! Shred is the name of the game here. Syuta Hashimoto handles both guitar and keyboard duties (rendering the conversation in the previous paragraph somewhat schizophrenic) and, since it his show, he punishes the fretboard/keyboard with blistering fury whenever he damn well pleases.

Quick quiz: when is it appropriate to insert a solo into a Balflare song?
a. During the solo section
b. Immediately after the final repetition of the chorus
c. After the solo section, as kind of an auxiliary solo
d. At the very beginning of the song
e. While the verse is happening
f. All of the above

(Hint: F is the correct answer, preferably all in the same song)

Vocalist Eijin Kawazoe sounds much as he did on "Sleeping Hollow". His accent is still very pronounced, and he has not improved his accuracy. He is your typical "sounds like a frog" Japanese power metal vocalist, although he is not as froggy as others I could name. While his performance is fine, or even good, on the fast songs, things really go to shit when he attempts to inject some emotion into his delivery. Honestly, if Balflare somehow roped a second-tier European vocalist into performing these songs, ballad or no ballad, the result would be significantly more enjoyable. The only downside to that would be that the shitty, nonsensical lyrics would be rendered marginally more comprehensible, and thus more cringe-worthy. "The sun is smiling at you all the time"? Are you kidding me, guys? "Can you see the tears from the eyes of whales?" No, man. I can't see the fucking tears.

Luckily for us, ballads make up only a small portion of this album. The rest of the portion, you ask? What a stupid question. If not slow, then fast! By my count, seven of the twelve tracks on Downpour are straight-up ballblasters, with an additional few that are still solidly speedy, just not quite as speedy. There are power metal bands out there who have yet to realize that the most powerful song you can write is one that a.) is at 180 beats-per-minute or greater, b.) never, not for one beat, lets up on the double-bass drumming and c.) has a highly melodic chorus that you can yell along to while not really knowing the words. That is really the best aspect of this album; nothing gets my dick harder than a power metal rocker zooming through space at warp-speed, and Balflare provides a plethora of such songs. "Before the Dawn", "Unite", "Crave in the Dark", and the title track "Downpour" are the highlights even if they are all essentially the same song.

If I could pinpoint a flaw on this album, it would be that, on occasion, the keyboards are too glossy, too cheesy even for me. There are times when weird Eurobeat-esque sounds are used in lieu of more conventional instrumentation. Syuta, I know you mean well, but when you find your finger navigating through the "techno" section of your keyboard, just remind yourself that it would probably sound better with harpsichords. There's a good boy. Don't want to enact jarring changes in the atmosphere of the album, now do we?

In short, you should grab this album if you are into the melodic side of power metal. In fact, if you are a fan of anime soundtracks, this album would be right up your alley, since the two share the same sense of sentimental melody (not like I watch that shit). The frigid atmosphere of "Sleeping Hollow" has been replaced with a somewhat warmer style that, while not as evocative, is still pretty badass. After 53 minutes of nearly nonstop power, you will be exhausted, but you will have a hard time not hitting "play" one more time, if only to hear those choruses once again flow majestically through your speakers.

Review written by Charlo for www.metal-archives.com