When Heroes Fall

Apart from having to listen to disappointing or uninspired records, a power metal fan is often compelled to deal with a number of other problems. One of these problems is the conflation of certain concepts: among the majority of power metal supporters, the meanings of “cult”, “excellent” and “unpopular” usually get confused with each other. More specifically, a relatively unknown and “unpopular” record will easily gain the honour of being looked upon as a “cult” piece of art. Respectively, a “cult” album is, in most cases, considered to be a forgotten masterpiece that external factors prevented from becoming famous. It is true that a great deal of hard - working bands (Heir Apparent, Lizzy Borden, Savage Grace) never got the attention they deserved, yet this doesn’t necessarily mean that everything that remains, generally speaking, unknown bears extraordinary quality.


Attika is a group from Florida that relatively few know of. The band released its self - titled debut in 1988, whereas their second album, called “When Heroes Fall”, came out in 1991. “When Heroes Fall”, which is the object of this review, has received some encouraging comments from the Press and does indeed possess some positive elements, yet it is a somehow overrated album. Even though it reveals the great potential of Attika, it hardly bears the identity of a “real metal gem”, as cult metal enthusiasts tend to believe.


To begin with, let’s focus on the positive aspects of the record: Attika seems to be a band that truly has something to say, and its members possess the ability to express their inner thoughts and worries through wonderful lyrics. The group doesn’t hesitate to put the finger on social issues they consider annoying or provocative. “Filming The Tragedy” seems to be a manifestation of anguish and rage, a protest against the false reality that the mass media attempt to establish. “Silent Rage” and “Prisoners Of Habit” tell the tales of lonely misfits, who find themselves trapped in a depersonalizing and alienated world, whereas “The Shame” criticizes the decadence of modern highly developed societies. On the other hand, Attika also draw inspiration from traditional sword and sorcery epic themes. “Seventh Sign”, “Deliverer” and “Black Rose” successfully bring images of great wars, exotic races and heroic feats into consciousness. Finally, “When Heroes Fall” and “Hollow Grave”, the two lyrical highlights of the record, centre on the tragic fate of individuals, whose ambitions were different or higher than those of the rest of their society.


However, when it comes to the musical part of the album, things don’t work out that well for Attika. The band’s music could best be described as typical American power metal, and that is actually where the problems begin. In particular, the musical style Attika adopt seems to be extremely typical, a sound that was original and noteworthy during the ’80s, but has clearly little to offer in the ’90s. In fact, when listening to “When Heroes Fall” one gets the impression that the metal genre Attika try to explore has already been fully developed by previous bands like Omen, Savatage and Fates Warning. Moreover, the performance of these previous bands is apparently better than that of Attika in their second album. Nevertheless, the lack of originality would not constitute such serious a flaw if the record included clever, interesting and pleasant to hear tracks. Unfortunately, that is not the case: although “Filming The Tragedy” is a fine tune and there are some good moments in “When Heroes Fall”, “Hollow Grave” and “Black Rose”, the majority of the songs included here sound uninspired and boring. Most riffs appear to be annoyingly simplistic and repetitive, rarely expanding to more than three notes and / or chords. A characteristic example is the last part of “Black Rose”, where the same guitar riff gets repeated over again and again for a duration almost equal to three minutes. It certainly becomes somewhat irritating from a certain point onwards.


Furthermore, “When Heroes Fall” reveals that Attika could improve their performance as musicians. More specifically, the drummer may have some clever ideas and try to shape them into his own personal distinctive style, yet the other members of the band don’t seem eager to create something special. As noted earlier, the guitarist prefers to specialize in repetitive and indifferent riffs, while his solos seldom rise above mediocrity. As far as the vocalist is concerned, he adopts a rather monotonous and trivial approach, which lacks in passion and wrath, the two essential elements that make a good power metal singer.


In short, even though “When Heroes Fall” does indeed contain some encouraging features, those features get obscured by the general repetitiveness and lack of originality. An optimistic fan could count on Attika’s potential, which, even present, is not so evident, and hope that the band would create albums far better than their second attempt. On the other hand, this doesn’t necessarily mean that “When Heroes Fall” is an underrated metal classic, as it is widely believed.