(Neoclassical Power Metal) [CD] Steel Seal - By the Power of Thunder (Japanese Edition) - 2006, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Steel Seal is a five piece musical group from Italy that plays a style of neo-classical/power metal that shows the talent of the members as well as the many facets of the ‘neo-classical’ sub-genre. It is made noticeable that within the early tracks of the use of keyboards and double bass drumming, but it’s not overdone it’s actually done with good taste.

The vocals are generic power metal vocals often going to high pitched spots and it seems that he tries to pull a Tobias Sammett singing style combined to someone like Fabio Leone from Rhapsody with the thick Italian accent that tends to make the words sound jumbled or hard to comprehend. Either way he’s got a catchy voice that is talented enough to work well with the music. The drumming is usually present in all parts and done well without anything spectacular showing but nothing under-done either. The guitars are nothing to go wow over either, but play a key role in keeping the melody flowing as the solos are very melodic and often compliment the keyboards. Which brings me to the highlight of the album; the keyboards. It seems that they take a note from Stratovarius with the style of keyboard dosage in the songs, with possibly just as many keyboard solos than guitar solos. Jens Johanssen and possibly Warmen are obvious notable influences either way giving the melodic “happy” feeling throughout the album.

Onto the songs: most are mid-tempo, with a couple faster tracks and some slow numbers. The best part of each song is that the choruses are mostly fun to sing to and allow the listener to hum or sing to if you can understand the vocalist. The most enjoyable chorus is on the faster song “When the Devil Calls” which also boasts a great keyboard solo followed by a simple guitar solo which is in turn followed by another faster keyboard solo, then tops that with a faster, better guitar solo; the definite highlight of the album.

Another highlight is the song “Roncesvalles’ Day” which is one of the other more upbeat songs that has another catchy chorus that was stuck in my head for a while. “Townrazer” is one of the better songs where the guitar work is more noticeable than the keyboarding, although as you guessed there is a keyboard solo…after a nice guitar solo. The 8 minute long ‘epic’ on the album is a letdown, considering that the first 5 minutes or so are boring on all levels, really slow and drags on but picks up for the last couple minutes with a nice solo and impressive drum work.

The cons: Songwriting is lacking in variety, some songs are similar to others and nothing new is present. As well as the singing, hopefully the vocalist can learn to sing more coherently for a neo-classical vocalist. Too many mid-tempo songs drag the album down to be quite similar in structure with little variety as I stated before.

So to sum up, the album is quite a surprise for a debut, but hopefully the band can improve on the lack of variety on the songwriting on the next album. While the album is nothing new or impressive to the sub-genre of neo-classical metal, it is quite enjoyable for those who love keyboards, but not overused keyboards, and for anyone who likes power metal.

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

D.C. Cooper - Vocals
Luca Iovieno - Drums
Fabio Bernardi - Keyboards
Andrea Orciuolo - Bass
Marco Valerio Zangani - Guitars