Notes from the Shadows

Old school metal classicism could be likened to a musical time machine for the nostalgic, particularly when it is done well. Truth be told, at this stage in metal's four decade history, it's difficult to avoid nostalgia given that so many of the songs out there are written with an eye to something from at least 20 years ago. In keeping with this, quality should hold a trump card over originality when judging something described as traditional heavy metal, for in the very name is an admission of the dominance of past influences. Thus is the ongoing tale of Astral Doors, a fairly obscure metal outfit cut after the Dio mode of old school majesty where rock and metal were not so alien to one another, and one that also recalls some of the doom tendencies of the early days of 80s metal when Black Sabbath's slower world of bleakness still held a degree of sway over many bands outside of the world of Trouble, Saint Vitus and Candlemass.

Differentiating one album by this band is a bit tricky since they've maintained a fairly consistent formula and haven't had any significant shifts in their lineup apart from going from two guitarists to one just prior to their previous outing Jerusalem, but going by individual songs, Notes From The Shadows is a cut above much of the latter half of their career. Astral Doors has never had a problem with keeping their songs concise and catchy, but songs like "Disciples Of The Dragonlord" and "Wailing Wall" manage to be utterly unforgettable, meshing together a small gathering of good ideas with just the right amount of energy and drive. Much of it is helped along by Nils' astounding vocals, who never fails in managing to be heavily Dio-inspired without sounding like a full imitation, as well a healthy amount of intrigue in the guitar department, where the riff construction has become a bit more animated and Vivian Campbell-like than recent outings.

Comparisons to Axel Rudi Pell's handiwork become all but unavoidable when dealing with the brilliant mixture of 80s guitar fury and the late 70s rock organ infused classicism of 70s Deep Purple and Rainbow, but here things get a slight bit adventurous. One of the few nifty little interludes on here dubbed "Hoodoo Ceremony", which is a prelude of sorts for the chunky groove number "Southern Conjuration", listened like a brief church organ prelude to worship, complete with all the typical Baroque era cliches. It gets a bit more interesting still on the bluesy-tinged rocker "Shadowchaser", which definitely conjures up images of Ritchie Blackmore back in his hard rocking heyday with Ronnie James. Veering further away from the ARP sound that they are wont to be compared to, this band scores a real winner with the slow trudging and depressed "Die Alone", which literally sounds like it could have been written by Candlemass about 30 years prior.

If there is one thing that can successfully keep an album in this style fresh, it's playing around with the proportions of its various moving parts rather than playing it too safe and keeping things reasonably short, and Notes From The Shadows definitely keeps up both ends. It exudes a certain energy and freshness that had teetered off a bit during their middle era albums, though they've never really stumbled to the point of putting out something below average. Naturally this band caters to a particular audience that is more receptive to the revivalist craze typified more recently in the thrash and speed metal styles, thus it comes off as eschewing any notion of modernizing the style apart from taking advantage of recent recording innovations for purposes of clarity and power. In other words, this isn't you dad's heavy metal, but only because it wasn't actually written in 1985.