Ashes and Madness

There has been a recent string of super bands popping up, perhaps accredit to the all too common musical chairs routine of a number of reputable acts. It might be creative differences, it might be massive egos, but regardless what fuels the trend, there are a large number of gifted musicians from Mike Terrana to Chitty Somapala that have over 10 different bands in their resume. When looking at the lineup of the American outfit Avian, a similar conclusion can be drawn as to the likes of Civilization One, Red Circuit, and a number of other retro-sounding outfits that have only been in the game for a short time, yet have multiple members with extensive backgrounds. And in similar fashion, the results are solid, but fall a bit short of expectation.

Much like Pyramaze, this is an older sounding, 80s heavy metal infused project that doesn’t quite fit the template of the speed oriented European scene. But the comparisons primarily stop at Lance King being the vocalist and, by consequence, the principle attraction. This is a band that runs more along the lines of 80s Crimson Glory, early 80s Queensryche and John Arch era Fates Warning, touched up a bit with a more modernized production and a good amount of spacey keyboard sounds. The songs primarily stay at mid-tempo and consist of formulaic riffs more reminiscent of Helstar than Helloween. All musicians in congress pull their weight reasonably well, but as evidenced from the longtime vocal veteran leading the way, are upstaged pretty handedly and function more as background settings than anything else.

As with a number of 80s influenced bands that avoid being too overtly catchy, this is a band that excels when they drag out the song and put an emphasis on atmosphere. The best songs on here are the opening title song “Ashes And Madness” and the closing epic “Time And Space Part II: Unlock The Mystery” (a continuation of a series begun on the band’s debut). Both of these songs play up the band’s heavy influences from Crimson Glory’s auspicious sophomore effort “Transcendence” and feature rudimentary riffs and melodic content that play to Lance King’s signature approach to captivating the listener. He’s not quite as dynamic and neurotic sounding as Midnight, but he definitely gets the job done in the way expected of either Geoff Tate or Warrel Dane back when they could really belt out the high notes in the 80s.

As a whole, this thing flows reasonably well and occasionally picks up tempo, but this is the sort of album that would likely appeal more to retro USPM fans than most of the younger crowd, though it’s not a perfect emulation of the past. It gets a little flat in the middle, and puts an overemphasis on a few key elements, mostly the vocals when not hearing Bill Hudson’s decent soloing. But it is readily consumable and pretty easy to follow, something that is an essential part of a good power metal album. The only negative thing to consider is that this is the last album with Lance King in the band, so this outfit might be headed towards an uncertain future as is common when being reliant on a front man who has his eyes fixated on the next project, regardless to whether it carries the same name as the last.