(Epic Power Metal) Human Fortress - Дискография (2000-2019), 7 Releases, MP3, 320 kbps

Jioti Parcharidis Vocals
Volker Trost Guitars
Torsten Wolf Guitars
Pablo J. Tammen Bass
Dirk Marquardt Keyboards
Apostolos "Laki" Zaios Drums

Lord of Earth and Heaven's Heir is an album from one of the best 2nd or 3rd string acts that put together an amazing album. Usually the standard 1st string Stratovarius, Helloween, or Hammerfall albums would take hold of the greatest power/speed metal albums, but on the contrary, Human Fortress puts together an album of such caliber that even the 1st string acts can take some instructional notes from. Part of the reason this album stands out above many other lesser
known band is Jioti's passionate performance displayed through these 11 tracks. Lord of Earth and Heaven's Heir has a typical take lyrically and musically from the speed/power metal department, but the execution of it is just so well done.
The opener track is a great start off for what to expect with the material. The guitars have a light riff feel to them with a keyboard synth sound that complements the guitars with an added strength. The drums fill their with the double bass presence while the vocalist soars through various high notes and higher notes. Dragon's Lair reveals the formula that makes this album work; catchy choruses and melodic hooks. Under Black Age Toil follows the same pattern but with a more
emotional tone in the vocals. Lord o Earth and Heaven's Heir has a great chorus and a soft interlude/ spoken word section in the middle of the track that adds some depth to the feeling in the lyrics. Divine Astronomy kicks off again with a catchy chorus (had me singing this for months) and follows through with interesting lyrics and enough power in it to make this one a highlight of the album. The album does not fall off at any time, but follows the same formula of choruses/hooks with different melodies for the remainder of the songs. Forgive and Forget is the ballad of the album about forgiveness, which does not fall into the category of bland and emotionless, which is an added bonus to the album. The Little Flame is a great closer that does not leave an impression like something is lacking in the album.
The lyrics tend towards fantasy stylized combat or a call to being noble with some tinges of philosophy added within a few of the tracks. To some the lyrics can appear hokey, but with an honest attempt to enjoy the album, you will find many power statements that add to the listening experience. IMO, the lyrics are well written when related to other acts of this genre. Catchy, but still full of emotion, Lord of Earth and Heaven's Heir remains one of the best albums from an unknown 2nd or 3rd string act in the power/speed metal genre.
metal-archives.com

Jioti Parcharidis Vocals
Torsten Wolf Guitars
Volker Trost Guitars
Pablo J. Tammen Bass
Dirk Marquardt Keyboards
Apostolos "Laki" Zaios Drums

REVIEW FROM WWW.ROCKREPORT.BE:
Critical acclaim on their surprisingly good debut album “Lord Of Earth And Heavens Heir”, released in 2001 on Limb Music Products, motivated German power metal act Human Fortress to go on and record a follow-up. With Tommy Newton controlling the knobs, the six (!) gentlemen re-entered the studio earlier this year to lay down “Defenders Of The Crown”.
The result is an album that has a more straightforward sound than its predecessor. Almost no room was left for (light) progressive experiments or other explorations. The attention that would’ve gone up in such tomfoolery has been put into the creation of songs in the true meaning of the word. Songs marked by the distinctive powerful voice of Joti Parcharidis, without whom Human Fortress wouldn’t be the same band. His throat is the band’s most precious and important instrument.
Nevertheless, during its first few spins, the album had a hard time grabbing my attention. Impressive song material like the debut’s title track seemed to be lacking on the platter. But as it grew onto me listen after listen, I figured out that the quality on “Defenders Of The Crown” is more spread out over the album. Still, a handful of tracks – “Gladiator Of Rome”, “Holy Grail Mine” and “Border Raid In Lions March“ and especially “Schattentor” - stick out from the twelve, mostly thanks to their catchy choruses.
A very diverse and no-nonsense album is what you add to your collection with this disc. From Gamma Ray like metal hymns to early Kamelot inspired tunes, it’s all there. And the question if “Defenders Of The Crown” is even better than Human Fortress’ debut album, doesn’t need an answer as its predecessor already was a great release. Keep up the good work, guys!
REVIEW FROM FROM WWW.METALCRYPT.COM:
This is the second CD for this German band who doesn't sound German. Unlike Paragon or Wizard or the more "typical" German acts, Human Fortress are much more reminiscent of the Swedish or Italian school of power metal.
What we have here are 13 tracks of basically HammerFallish power metal with some good riffs, decent leads, and vocals that are waaay better than that sissy Joachim Cans. "Knights In Shining Armor" gave me a bad first impression, as the vocal melodies on this opening song suck so hard they become obnoxious, and I nearly turned the CD off. I'm glad I didn't though, as there are some fun songs here. The title track is a good tune, as is the hyper-catchy "Border Raid" and "Siege Tower." A lot of these songs fall in the ‘good-but-not-great' category: "Gladiator", "Mortal Sinful Wrath". Human Fortress need to work on the vocal parts on future albums, as while their singer is good, his melodies are very hit and miss. The iffy songs are not helped by a Maidenesque tendency towards highly repetitive choruses and a mix that puts the vocals too upfront, obscuring the music. The guitar sound is heavier than, say, Freedom Call, but I would like it fatter and more centrally mixed.
This is a good CD, but it has too many tracks that blend together, and only one or two that you will want to listen to repeatedly. It's a bit less generic than a lot of power metal these days, but a little more originality and a heavier sound would really help. I would hope the band will focus more on writing 8 or 10 really good songs for the next album rather than letting so much filler on the disc. I can definitely recommend this to diehard power fans, but anyone else will want to check out some soundclips first.

Joti Parcharidis Vocals
Torsten Wolf Guitars
Volker Trost Guitars
Dirk Marquardt Keyboards, Guitars (acoustic)
Pablo Tammen Bass
Laki Zaios Drums

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I'm sure many of you still remember Human Fortress. These German metal heads released to very fine albums in 2001 ("Lord Of Earth And Heavens Heir") and 2003 ("Defenders Of The Crown", about which you can read elsewhere on these pages), of which I best remember the band's superb vocalist at that time. During the very long period of silence that preceded this new Human Fortress album though, said Jioti Parcharidis had to leave the band because of health problems. Joining him, but for other - private - reasons were long time guitarist Volker Trost and drummer Apostolos Zaios. That and a baby boom caused put the band's activities on hold for several years.
Now they're back with "Eternal Empire" and a quite different sound: heavier, more aggressive and more complex. This is of course not surprising as for half of the band it's their first recording together: vocalist/producer Carsten Frank (ex-Galloglass), guitarist Frank Sawade and drummer Arndt Krone. Together with the existing core - guitarist Torsten Wolf, bassist Pablo Tammen and keyboardist Dirk Marquardt - they've laid down a diverse album. There's only a little bit of room for their trademark medieval power metal stuff such as "The Wizard" and "Falling Leaves", but this time around the stress is on heavy metal with touches of Scandi melodic death and industrial metal ("Borders Of Insanity"). Besides Frank's more than occasional grunts, also the down-tuned guitars, atmospheric keyboards and soaring choruses in tracks as "Contrast", "Under The Spell" and especially stand-out "The Raven" reminded me of acts as In Flames and Soilwork. Besides his grunting, the versatile Frank does a nice job fronting Human Fortress, but it's hard to forget the mysterious and original voice of Parcharidis if you know the outfit's former material.
What strikes me, is that the middle part of the disc - songs as "Under The Spell" and "Lions Den" - suspiciously sounds as filler material. This is a pity as they should've had enough time to write enough stuff. Luckily the album ends solid with "Circle Of Flames" and the melodic, mid-tempo "Falling Leaves".
Although "Eternal Empire" is a very good effort on its own, fans of the older Human Fortress sound might dislike the heavier direction the band went in. We'll soon find out if that's the case, but I'm certainly not disliking it!
Review taken from rockreport.be

Carsten Frank Vocals (lead), Guitars
Torsten Wolf Guitars, Vocals (backing)
Frank Sawade Guitars, Vocals (backing)
Dirk Marquardt Keyboards, Vocals (backing)
Pablo J. Tammen Bass, Vocals (backing)
Arndt Krone Drums

Back in 2008, a force in the German melodic power metal scene released an album called “Eternal Empire.” The album was met with as much disdain as I have seen critic’s muster. It seemed that after the release of epic power masterpieces “Lord of Earth and Heavens Heir” and “Defenders of the Crown,” the band had all but abandoned the foundation that built the Human Fortress. On one hand, creating a new sound to generate a bigger audience is understandable, but to hardened power metal fans it’s a sacrilege. So, after a five year hiatus, the departure of Carsten Frank (who sang and played guitar on “Eternal Empire”) and return of one the original members Volker Trost (guitarst) and vocalist Jioti Parcharidis, the band was set to regroup and attack. However, in 2010 Parcharidis left again for health reasons, leaving the band to seek a new vocalist. The search turned up one of the rising voices in metal - Brazil’s Gus Monsanto (Symbolica/Code of Silence/Ex-Adagio). With that, Human Fortress seeks to reclaim lost glory with “Raided Land.” The end result is a successful transition back to pre-2008 derailment as the the train coasts back on the track of straight melodic power metal, with the added bonus of the best production in the band’s history.
In Monsanto, the band has brought back the soaring beauty that was lost with Frank’s pseudo-harsh style vocals. His range is even more varied than with his other bands (Code of Silence and Symbolica) and there are brief moments where he is inseparable from Tommy Karevik (see “Under Seige”). It seems there is no end to the breadth of what he can sing. His style is more wide open than that of original vocalist Parcharidis, though I suspect that many fans will identify his style with the band. In a similar aspect to MasterPlan, yet on a much smaller scale, the band’s rabid fanbase will raise red flags with a new vocalist. However, the only red flag that should be raised is the one depicted on the album artwork. Monsanto is by far the best vocalist Human Fortress has ever had, and it is his range that properly propels the band to a modern audience while keeping true to its history.
With a perfect mix and fantastic sound (from Orden Ogan vocalist/guitarist Sebastian "Seeb" Levermann on the music side and vocalist extraordinaire Michael Bormann on the vocal side), Human Fortress draws elements from the first two releases with a distinct nod to the current style of Kamelot. Pure power metal fans might find that it leans more progressive and is mired in mid-paced muck and pure progressive fans will find it dips into more power than they might like. For those in the middle, “Raided Land” is the band’s finest hour. The songs are a perfect balance of power and progressive with the songs averaging a svelte 4 minutes.
With a recipe of “Silverthorn” Kamelot and “Mystery of Time” Avantasia, the band also throws some shades of Running Wild within the riffs of “Gladiator of Rome, Pt. 2,” the album’s strongest track. “Evil Curse” is the longest track – at 5:22 – and also the heaviest. I do wish that mighty riff was carried in force through the first verse, but it comes back half way in the second. However, if there was one song on the album that shows the full range that Monsanto offers, this is it. Other notables are “The Chosen One,” “Child of War” and “Wasted Years.” The one most closely related to Kamelot is “Under Seige,” which if I hadn’t known better could have easily fooled me as coming from that band.
“Raided Land” is a return to the style that started it all for Human Fortress. With Gus Monsanto, the group added the most versatile vocalist its ever had (with no disrespect to Parcharidis). The sound and production is the most pristine in the band’s history, striking a perfect mix – a testament to the mastery of both Sebastian Levermann and Michael Bormann. While I know some diehards will find the album unfulfilling as a pure power metal album, I cannot find a time in the band’s history outside of “Eternal Empire” where it sounded dramatically different, or better. “Raided Land” is one of the finest efforts from a German band with a tremendous upswing for the future.
Highs: High class melodic power metal with perfect production.
Lows: Pure power metal fans will find the mid-paced a drag and pure progressive fans will find this to steeped in fantasy land.
Bottom line: "Raided Land" tears down the "Eternal Empire" and rebuilds the Human Fortress the way it was meant to be.
Review taken from www.metalunderground.com

Todd Wolf Guitars
Volker Trost Guitars
Apostolos "Laki" Zaios Drums
Dirk Liehm Keyboards, Orchestration
André Hort Bass
Gus Monsanto Vocals

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After a near universally panned album and an extended gap between albums, involving numerous lineup changes, Human Fortress made a triumphant return in 2013 with Raided Land, an album that totally removed all the unwanted elements from its predecessor Eternal Empire and brought back traces of the band’s revered masterpiece Defenders of the Crown, while also modernizing their sound a bit to help it stand out, making it not only a return to form, but one of the band’s best works to date. Now, less than 2 and half years later, the band is back with their fifth release Thieves of the Night. I had very high expectations, as I’ve loved all the band’s prior releases, including Eternal Empire, and happily they have once again not disappointed me.
Thieves of the Night is their first album since Defenders of the Crown to not feature any lineup changes from the previous release, and is also by far the band’s quickest turn around since then, which is a sign that things have finally settled down and the band is happy to move forward. Unsurprisingly, then, where previous releases featured some major changes in their sound, this release feels like they took everything that worked on Raided Land built on that foundation, rather than doing anything radically different. Stylistically, this is very much the same brand of epic and instantly catchy power metal, featuring a mix of speedy and mid tempo tracks, though I find the faster tracks are more prominent and stand out a bit more this time around, with energetic performances all around, especially from singer Gus Monsanto, who feels like he has settled into his role and shows off his full range throughout the many songs, often times using more of his powerful, semi growly lower notes than before. The production is as perfectly polished as one would expect, and the songwriting is consistently strong as always for this band.
The album opens up strong with “Amberstow”, which begins with a nice keyboard intro and orchestra, before the full band kicks in and the tempo picks up, turning into a blazing opening track with an excellent chorus and awesome riffs. Perhaps my favorite song on the album is the title track, another super energetic speedy track which certainly feels similar to the “Gladiator of Rome” songs from previous albums, and is just as addictive and epic as those tracks. Monsanto in particular sounds incredible and very fiery on this track, especially during the intense final chorus. Other excellent faster tracks include “Rise or Fall”, which has some explosive guitar work throughout, especially in the middle, “Just a Graze”, which has an insanely catchy chorus and a strong use of symphonic elements, “Vicious Circle”, which is probably the fastest track on the album, and “Gift of Prophecy”, the longest track on the album, and also one of the best. It starts out slowly with some nice acoustic guitar work, before speeding up and turning into the kind of epic track the band excels at, with tons of memorable melodies throughout.
On the slower side of things, “Last Prayer to the Lord” is an amazing track featuring heavy guitar work during the verses and some excellent vocal melodies during the choruses, while “Thrice Blessed” is similarly quite heavy compared to the rest of the album and again allows the two guitarists to shine, plus it also features some symphonic elements to liven it up and make it another one of my favorites. The interlude track“Smite on the Anvil” nicely builds up to “Dungeons of the Doom”, a calmer song with a darker tone, where Monsanto once again sounds excellent. Speaking of which, the ballad “Alone” isn’t particularly great in terms of the composition, but it still works because the vocals are so good, though it and “Hellrider” are my two least favorites on the album. The latter is a solid track, but lacks the energy of the faster tracks and the heavy riffs of some of the other slower songs, though it does have a great chorus and is still a fun track.
With Raided Land, Human Fortress made an exciting and somewhat surprising comeback, and while Thieves of the Night doesn’t quite have the same impact as that release, it’s still an excellent album with consistently great songwriting and strong performances, and it feels like the band did a great job of building on what they started last time. Longtime fan of the band should obviously enjoy this, and fans of Euro power metal with epic choruses and just a slight edge to the guitars are recommended to give it a try as well.
Review written by Travis for www.myglobalmind.com

Todd Wolf Guitars, Lyrics, Songwriting (tracks 1-8, 10-12)
Volker Trost Guitars, Songwriting (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 11)
Laki Zaios Drums, Songwriting (track 10)
Dirk Liehm Keyboards, Orchestrations, Songwriting (tracks 4, 5, 7, 9-12)
André Hort Bass, Songwriting (track 11)
Gus Monsanto Vocals

Torsten "Todd" Wolf Guitars
Volker Trost Guitars
Apostolos "Laki" Zaios Drums
Dirk Liehm Keyboards, Orchestration
André Hort Bass
Gus Monsanto Vocals