The Promise

The first time I heard “The Promise” by Forgotten Tales, I was surprised by the quality of this album for an independent release. Usually, demos or self-released albums tend to sound real bad. This one is really good; not superb, but good for a debut album. Of course, there are a lot of Power metal bands out there, so why should Forgotten Tales be better than anyone else… Hmm. I think one of the major reasons is the vocalist Sonia Pineault. She has a powerful voice with a considerable range; very impressive. I mean, unless you’re totally deaf or simply do not like women in metal; it is really easy to appreciate this kind of vocal. She has not an eerie voice like Tarja of Nightwish but more of a full fronted voice like Timo Kotipelto of Stratovarius. Real power in it.

As for the songs themselves, well, Forgotten Tales, unlike other bands, doesn’t hide the fact that they are influenced by groups like Helloween, Edguy, Gamma Ray, Rhapsody and so on. They use clichés in the form of fast riffs, double bass drums, epic melodies on keyboards, etc. Hmm. If it was only for all those things, Forgotten Tales would be considered average. Fortunately, there is more. Personally, I like the musical variations based on the theme of each song. The songs are not all fast. There are some mid-tempo songs that fit perfectly with the mood generated by the lyrics, like “She’s falling” for an example.

Also, I like the guitar solos. They are very melodious and Martin, the guitar player, is very precise with his picking. He reminds me a little bit of Vinnie Moore. This is kind of new in this type of Power Metal because many European guitarists used to play like Yngwie Malmsteens. Martin has is own personality, which is great. The bassist, well, when you consider that this guy plays with his fingers, geez, he’s fast! The drums tend to be okay. No surprise there. As for the keyboard tracks, well, they are okay but we don’t hear them very well on every song, so I cannot enjoy them as much as I could. The choruses are a little bit catchy but they’re not done by choirs. Many of you would like that. Some don’t. Some songs have a few progressive passages that you don’t hear very often in this kind of music. (Gamma Ray, Edguy, etc.) Finally, the band is unbelievably tight; like clockwork.

Now, as for the sound of the album; it is okay. A little bit too crystal clear for my taste. It lacks aggressiveness, and the CD’s recording volume is lower than average. Of course, as you know, sound engineers love to put compressors in their mix. It gives the music a lot of power but Forgotten Tales doesn’t have this; too bad for the band. Well, the only positive thing about this is that the sound is very dynamic. Something we used to see with progressive bands, but not so in metal. So, if you put their CD in a real sound system (not in a shitty discman), the sound isn’t distorted at high volume the way it is with recordings by Nightwish, Sonata Arctica and others.
In conclusion, if you are into Rhapsody, Dark Moor and European Melodic Power Metal, I think you should give this band a try. Unfortunately, they have no label so their albums are very difficult to find.