(Melodic Power Metal) [CD] Cain's Offering - Дискография (Japanese Edition) 2009-2015, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

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#777Where the hell did this come from? I've played Gather the Faithful a bunch of times so far, and it just keeps on delivering. Cain's Offering is a Power Metal project starring members of Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius, and if you’re like me, you think this is a really good idea and that it could produce nothing but excellent melodic metal…you’d be right.

The music on here is, as you’d guess, knowing it was made by a band that contained the guitarist and the keyboardist of Sonata Arctica, heavily influenced by those Finnish melodic masters. What’s more, Timo Koltipelto is also on this album, adding his sugary sweet finesse to every song on this album. The drummer is from Thyrane and the bassist from Norther and Wintersun, so you can say this is an All Stars project. That doesn’t mean much, though, except that this is very professional and captivating music from a bunch of the genre’s pros.

Songwriting-wise, it’s sort of like Sonata’s last release Unia, except more focused on individual songs as opposed to the whole album, and it's a lot lighter and more traditionally melodic. It’s what Unia would have been, if not for the twisted artistic visions of Sonata’s Tony Kakko. The attention to detail here, as on Unia, is just phenomenal, with every song packing a lot of subtle melody and intricate hook sensibility. It’s catchy and certainly very poppy, but there's more to it than you'd think. The rhythms are simple, but they do change ever so subtly, again, just like on the Sonata Arctica album. Koltipelto gives a truly astounding performance here, utilizing a more calculated midrange than he does in Stratovarius, giving careful attention to every last line he sings. The melodies themselves are frosty, fresh and invigorated, with Koltipelto leading them with a true dramatic flair. Sometimes the songs on here aren’t even so much songs as they are miniature story-plays, acted out by the professionals of the Power Metal genre. Spellbinding.

This album just flows excellently, which is perhaps its best selling point. It’s melodic, it’s dashing and it keeps you hooked. The choruses are catchy, but the verses are also sublime, carried out with melodic intensity and sterling power. Everything is polished to a tee, streamlined but still containing a lot of integrity, just waiting for you to discover its charms. With standouts like "My Queen of Winter," "Oceans of Regret," the wistful "Into the Blue" and the speedy "Dawn of Solace," as well as a number of other great tunes, Gather the Faithful is not something Power Metal fans should pass up.

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#777When it happens that some illustrious and renowned members of STRATOVARIUS/SONATA ARCTICA/RISING FORCE/DIO/MY GRAIN/ALTARIA or SILENT FORCES are joining for a studio album under the mixing supervision of Matias Kupiainen (STRATOVARIUS/BATTLE BEAST/ARION), and if the whole thing is marketed by the most dynamic label Frontiers Records in Europe and the mighty Avalon/Marquee in Japan…The expectations are reasonably high and the potentiality of the outlooks are more than exciting…But the result will be able to fulfill the expectations of the audience and in line with the strong artistic focus ?

The new album titled “Stormcrow” by CAIN'S OFFERING, is the second episode of a true legitimate all-Star project initiated years ago by Mastermind/Guitarist/Songwriter Jani Liimatainen, former member of SONATA ARTICA, and a man who share a strong stylistic Melodic vision in between the tradition and the contemporary modernity composition fashion, very symptomatic of the infinite richness and the depth of the Finnish scene, far from the clichés, however, authentic and still faithfull to some Nordic inclinations, clearly a gift for the fans of the high class Power Metal tradition provided relentlessly by the Scandinavian territories for more than three decades !

The dream-team already present and effective in their first acclaimed album “Gather the Faithful” (2009) was updated and even improved by the addition to the line-up of some newest talented musicians like Mr. Jonas Kuhlberg (ex-MYGRAIN) on Bass but most of all, the one and only, the gifted Master-Keyboardist Jens Johansson from RISING FORCE/SILVER MOUNTAIN/DIO fame…Then you have it…It’s the new CAIN'S OFFERING version 2.0 !

The musical color is generally hyper polished/arranged in a more orchestral and bombastic way than before, the majestic title track and “Too Tired to Run” sound is typical of this state of fact, the personnality of the band has matured for the better, even if some of the pace are locked in an exceptionally fast tempo frenzy, like on "I Will Build You A Rome" and “Constellation Of Tears” set in the famous double kick onslaught mode, enhanced with some great duelling soloing swift/exchange between Johansson and Jani Liimatainen : A great demanding virtuosic level very similar in the Full-shred-dual-attack contained and totally exhibited in the instrumental “I Am Legion” a sharp blistering epic updated with a flurry of technical details.

The songs “On The Shore” and most of all “Antemortem” are built in an ambitious method mixing the typical Scandinavian Dark Neo-Classical operatic Metal with some subtle Progressive elements like NIGHTWISH meets DARKWATER meets CIRCUS MAXIMUS meets ARION…Of course, some remaining touches coming from the old SONATA ARTICA days are still obvious at some point, as in the catchy “A Night To Forget” but with also their own attitude in superposition, yet another side of the band is shown with "The Best Of Times" that is experimenting in a few uplifting Modern Melodic parameters, a new found approach that can be also found within cuts like “Rising Sun"/"My Heart Beats For No One" even if it’s not my favorite part of the disc, here as elsewhere the vocals performance by Timo Kotipelto is remarkable, like in the power ballad "Too Tired To Run"…Indeed, it's a refined album globally ranging from very good to excellent…The best palliative for the disappointed fans of Tony Kakko & Co and the perfect offering for the starving enthusiastic supporters of the High-Melodic Power Metal style that I cherish !