Outlaw

Your favorite crazed quadrupedal horned space-spider-thing is back, but this time he’s a bit more brain-damaged, rude, and sporting a firearm, with which it looks like he’s laid waste to some spaghetti western backdrop. Interesting cover artwork for what is a pretty standard speedy Finnish power metal band – memorable at least, I guess? Perhaps it’s very important that the band made its mascot even more goofy the second time around, because Outlaw differs very little from the debut.

“Deathphone (Final Destination)” is more than just a reference that I don’t get, it’s kind of an underwhelming opener. The chorus feels a little bit limp, the vocals are not really “jump up and sing along” material, and the rhythmic guitar work is pretty standard fare and redundant. Mercifully, the speedy, faux harpsichord-laden “Black Adder” arrives on the scene to clear things up with a predictable (but quality) dose of Finn-power that the band doled out in spades with its first effort. This classic 90’s/00’s approach to uncomplicated power metal proves that while Astralion may not take its image very seriously, its obligation to familiar, proven power metal tropes is another matter entirely.

While stretching out a bit long, I think that its memorable synth lines and guitar leads make “Sacrificed & Immortalized” one of the favorite picks here. However, the band then proceeds to tweak that melody only slightly and crank up the tempo for the very similar sounding opening to “The Outlaw”, although this song does boast a better chorus line. “Nightmares Never Give Up” is another favorite in terms of that cheerful, high-flying power metal melodicism, but it’s handicapped by a bizarre spoken/shouted part in the middle that really turns me off. Though the melody also sounds almost painfully recycled, “Ghosts Of Sahara” offers a fun and somewhat more sober round to vary the lyrical motif of the album. That’s a lot of short-sells, but in a curious twist, the ten minute closer (“From a band like this?”, I hear you gasp) is actually the most varied and thrilling song on the album, with its nautical theme and nods to Celtic tonality. Consequently, “The Great Palace Of The Sea” is probably the only song this album that I would consider quantifiably “great”.

I’ve come to realize I have a bit of a problem with this release. A lot of the choruses sound as if they are variations on a theme – and this tendency is reminiscent of Wisdom, but without the same polish and tempo variance that the Hungarians employ. This comes across as unfortunately lazy to me, since a lot of the melodies on Outlaw sound considerably more samey than on the self-titled debut (where “Mysterious & Victorious” seemed fresh, and “Mary (Bloody)” was like nothing else the band has done since). Nowadays, Astralion’s derivative approach may stand out somewhat simply because not too many bands are playing in this niche anymore, but fifteen or twenty years ago, songs this formulaic would have relegated Astralion to third-rate status without a doubt.

I feel strongly that Outlaw is just a rehash of the band’s debut (which in turn was aping older acts, although with a novel twist), without the same level of enthusiasm or desire to make a distinct impression. Play this back-to-back – no wait, actually – play this first, and then go back to the debut, and you’ll hear the difference in energy. It’s well-played and silly fun, which is all that most people will likely turn to this band for, but let’s compare it to other halfway similar recent releases, even sticking just to Finland: Arion, Jack The Frost, Kenziner, Thaurorod, etc. – they’re all doing something similar, but more striking and interesting in some way. Outlaw will still appeal to a lot of power metal fans looking for a noncommittal, carefree fling, but I’ll stick with something less repetitive, myself. Pity about that closer – a real gem.

Originally written for Black Wind Metal

Astralion is certainly making a name for themselves as one of the most serious power metal bands (musically speaking) with some of the most blatantly non-serious album covers. To be fair, there is a certain degree of comic liberty that goes with said sub-genre of metal, and given the recent trend in cinema of mixing film genres like Sci-Fi and Westerns (something that Iron Savior also recently picked up on), the timing seems right for these Finns to get in on the craze. A couple years ago this band managed to wow the hell out of the author of this review with a beast of a speed infused power metal album that had all of the right ingredients from both the Helloween and Stratovarius schools, a departure from the more Neo-classically tinged, moderated and intellectual approach of Olympos Mons, the former project of two key persons involved here. Now this group is back with an equally compelling beast of a sophomore effort dubbed Outlaw that thankfully sees little to no changes from the winning formula of their debut.

One might almost be tempted to accuse Astralion of releasing the same album twice given the radical similarities found here in relation to the self-titled first LP. Roughly the same ratio of fast to even more fast is the rule here, loaded up with plenty of flashy guitar and keyboard interchanges to make all the brethren of the order of Malmsteen smile in approval, and a vocal performance out of Ian E. Highhill that is becoming more and more like Timo Koltipelto with every new release. The most obvious comparisons that spring forth in terms of the musical display are that of Dreamtale and also Ghost Machinery's 2010 sophomore album Out For Blood, both largely consisting of a more distilled and speed oriented answer to the era of Stratovarius that spanned 1995 to 1998, with some occasional hints from some classics from older heavy metal outfits. For example, following an unsubtle homage to a scene from the movie included in the title, "Deathphone (Final Destination)" has something of a Painkiller meets late 80s Malmsteen vibe to it that's a bit more menacing than the majority of the album, and although otherwise a typical high octane nod to current Euro power metal trends, "Ghosts Of Sahara" has an ever so subtle hint of Maiden's "Powerslave" going on at an even faster tempo.

Naturally these aforementioned exceptional numbers are surrounded by a lot of more typical songs that are generally moderate in scope and geared toward the melodic rank and file. Most of them tend to mirror that "all fast, all the time" demeanor of a number of recent post-Dragonforce outfits, such as "Black Adder", "Nightmares Never Give Up", "Heading West" and "The Outlaw", each one chock full of double kick drum madness, blinding speed riffing out of the early Sonata Arctica method, and loaded of nimble keyboard themes that hang over the fringes like snow on top a vast mountain range. It's actually a bit interesting here these wild west themed lyrics over a musical style more readily associated with Science Fiction, all but begging the question of why these guys weren't tapped to score the "Cowboys vs. Aliens" movie. Rounding out the remains of this album is not one, but two fairly impressive epic length songs: the first a seven-minute nod to Visions era Stratovarius and a lyrical return to something along the lines of Olympos Mons' historically geared subjects, the second a charming folk-tinged and even longer epic of a throwback to the old days of seafaring adventure.

There aren't really any major complaints that could be thrown at this album except for maybe if one tends to hate just about everything associated with post-Helloween power metal in northern Europe. The token ballad "Wastelands Of Ice" is perhaps a bit of an unnecessary speed bump amid a sea of high flying adventure, but on its own it is a fairly decent song that reminds of those occasional slower rockers with ballad tendencies that Timo Tolkki would craft circa the late 90s to generally good affect. But otherwise, this is about as fast and fun as they come, even when compared with a number of competitors out there for such a title like Thaurorod and Victorius. It's uncertain whether the next incarnation of the demonic arachnid mascot of Astralion will be toting ninja weapons or a laser cannon on the next installment of this ongoing saga, but what will be contained within is sure to be yet another boon for those who like it fast and technical. That'll be a bottle of Wild Turkey and a dirty glass bartender, and make sure the alien spider on the bottom is dead, please.