The Universality

In comparison to the rest of Europe, France has been a fair bit restrained in their power metal output, not to mention getting into the act a few years behind the likes of Germany, Finland and Italy. But their output has been fairly strong, albeit largely based in a sort of revisionist approach that takes from sounds that were generally established in the other nations in question, resulting in a fairly varied collection of bands that have cropped up in the past 18 years. Among the more intricate and sadly less prolific outfits to come out of this movement is a Galderia, which can be best described as the perfect combination of Gamma Ray's riff happy speed metal and Freedom Call's light and triumphant reinterpretation of the high period of late 80s Helloween with Michael Kiske at the helm. This might cause one to assume an immediate commonality with the elder act Heavenly, which likewise works within similar influences, but Galderia takes it more of the opposite direction and focuses more precision and impact, coming off fairly close to where Seventh Avenue was during the late 1990s, ergo with more of a speed metal base.

A few years prior to 2012, this band lit a massive and glorious sonic fire with their debut EP Rise, Legions Of Free Men, and a couple short years later exploded with this, their first LP The Universality. It perfectly captures that same brilliant spirit that made Gamma Ray's first three albums with Kai Hansen on lead vocals from 1995 through 1999 that marked the beginning of power metal's return to prominence after a short time underground, but contains it to a more stylized format that is a bit more reminiscent certain isolated moments on Somewhere Out In Space and Powerplant, while lyrically it delves into concepts that painted Kai's writing a bit more in the 2000s (namely Illuminati based conspiracy theory). As far as concept albums go, this one is highly methodical, with a heavy emphasis on contrast from one song to the next, and frequent exploitation of massive background vocal sections and isolated orchestrated moments. At the center of it all is guitarist and vocalist Sebastien Chabot, who presents a vocal persona highly similar to Kai, save maybe with a bit less of a gravely quality and a smoother high range, but a highly comparable level of power.

At first glance, it might seem as though the band has let the cat out of the bag too soon and plastered all of their best moments right in the first nine minutes of the album. To be sure, the sheer amount of intensity and flash that goes into "Children Of The Earth" accomplishes something quite comparable to what "Armageddon" did in closing off Gamma Ray's Powerplant, but it manages to set the stage quite nicely for what is to come and proves to be the most gourmet of appetizers before getting to the actual banquet. Much of this song is steeped in speed, but there is a brilliant atmospheric point in the middle of the song where blazing riffs and thunderous drums give way to a massive choir of voices and keyboards that showcases an equal competency at building atmosphere as it does pummeling the listener with impact-based speed metal. There is a temptation to simply dwell upon this song as the most epic and complete representation of this band's capabilities, but opting to press forward reveals a similarly impressive array of speed and aggression in "Raise The World", not to mention a couple of lofty epics in "Ocean Of Light" and "Call To The World" that reach similar triumphant heights.

The brilliance of this album spills over into more straightforward territory, as Galderia is equally as interested in pacing themselves rather than just throwing epic after epic at the listener. A couple of obligatory upper mid-paced rockers like "Universality" and "Farspace" take their cues a bit more from the "Valley Of The Kings" and "Send Me A Sign" end of the Gamma Ray spectrum, though avoiding the keyboard heavy, almost Stratovarius-like demeanor of those songs for something more focused on guitars and massive choirs. "Sundancers" brings in a bit more of a keyboard oriented sound, but also moves into more of a traditional heavy metal mold with a few twists, not the least of which being the two guest vocalists that give it almost a sort of Abba meets Edguy flavor. For the most part these songs hit all the right marks, but are a bit less inclined towards making the listener obsess over them, which is what the astounding half-ballad "Galderians" manages to accomplish as it takes a few cues from Queen (much as Kai Hansen has at times), but in a far more subtle way that ultimately finds the band making it their own rather than sounding like a tribute song.

For any fan of power metal, this is one of the better representations to come out of the style to come out of France, and arguably at the top of the hill as far as 2012 was concerned. It showcases a massive level of ambition that makes the five year break period from the studio that followed it more than justified, and also should make all rejoice that this band is back at it and will be releasing a successor in the next month or so. It presents one of the cleanest breaks with the AOR fixated character that generally permeated power metal in the latter 2000s that could be found at the time, to the point of being an outright repudiation. It also fully bucks the trend that has tended to dog Gamma Ray's output since the mid-2000s where territory already covered is retreaded in a manner that is just a bit too obvious to be spectacular. Reptilian scum of the current political elite beware, there is a new order out there that is well poised to dispossess you of your tyrannical reign.