From the Cradle to the Brave

Norwegian power metal act Highland Glory formed after the breakup of similarly unknown Phoenix Rizing, acquiring singer Jan Thore Grefstad to complete the band. Their debut, 2003’s From the Cradle to the Brave, is at times a wonderful slice of melodic power metal. Unfortunately, when it’s not so hot it can be downright awful.

First, the good: Grefstad is a real hidden gem in the power metal field, sort of a poor man’s Daniel Heiman. His great range and an overall smooth voice really give the album a boost. Actually, Heiman even makes a quick appearance on the title track, doing a duet with Grefstad near the end. Not surprisingly, this is the best song on here and is actually one of the better upbeat power metal tunes to come around in some time. Other winners include the “Land of Forgotten Dreams” two-parter and “Wear Your Gun to Neverland”, a great song saddled with an unfortunately silly title. Jack Olsen’s guitar work is also a pleasant surprise. Certainly not the most technical stuff, even within the power metal genre, but quite good nonetheless, with enough of a focus on catchy melodies to easily carry most of the songs.

Of course, there’s also the bad: two ballads out of nine tracks, both as sappy as you’d expect, throwaway tracks unless you really like that sort of thing (not sure who does, actually). The first track, which often gets cited as a favorite, simply does nothing for me, as it’s about the most formulaic song we get – unexciting singalong chorus combined with an almost too-happy sound. Knut Toftum’s bass hardly figures into the equation at all, being slightly buried in the mix. And while certainly not bad per se, the drumming and keyboard work are both pretty standard.

Thankfully, Highland Glory got the two most important elements right – vocals and guitars. The inclusion of slight hints of other styles – some folk/celtic influences and even a brief middle-eastern flair on “Wear Your Gun…” – also helps spice things up just enough. Similarly, the longer song lengths of a few tunes work in the disc’s favor as we don’t just get ten four-minute tunes of in-and-out happy cheese.

Granted, Highland Glory are still a B-level power metal band, but when firing on all cylinders they represent just about the pinnacle of this style, the good stuff on here being clearly superior to most of the generic bands playing a similar style today. If they can avoid the “misses” in the future they could make the jump to the big time, though that is indeed a big “if”. Until then, fans of bands like, say, Lost Horizon, as well as a host of lesser-knowns such as Gaia Epicus, Freternia, and so on should enjoy Highland Glory. Just remember to skip the ballads.