Bright Phoenix

Don’t get me wrong, I always appreciate the opportunity to listen to and review new music, but I've been accused a time or two of being a bit too harsh on musicians that have put a great deal of work into creating a studio album for the masses to enjoy. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize musical effort and creativity on the part of anyone who runs the gauntlet of composing and recording music. This includes Hydro, one of Italy’s melodic power metal newcomers, with its album Bright Phoenix.

With that out of the way, I was disappointed by this album. It is, in almost every way, purely derivative and offering extremely little that is either distinctive or even a high-quality copy of the power metal blueprint. To expound, the guitar just doesn't work for me. The beginning of the solo on “The Bridge Is Infinite” sticks out like a sore thumb, and while I enjoyed one of the main riffs in “Smoke Of Death Valley”, the feeling was quite fleeting. If guitar is going to be light and dominated by vocals and synth, those elements need to be extremely strong, but they just aren't.

The synths are, in fact, decidedly dull, and almost seem like a hasty attempt to fill space on a number of songs. The vocals are even worse. I enjoy a lot of vocal styles that might be considered “acquired tastes”, but Nicola Santoni sounds like Andre Matos (not a favorite of mine, as many are probably aware) at his meekest and least confident, lacking any kind of power or command. On songs like the completely pointless “Enchanted Forest”, this lack of vocal charisma leads to several long minutes of yawning.

There’s just not a whole lot going on here. Only a couple of lines throughout the whole album would be considered properly hooky, and the whole lot drones on far too much for its (by the end) tired-sounding instrumentalists (especially the drummer – there is nothing exciting happening back there). I can say that others more into the basic, no-frills Euro-power will like this more than I, but I’m afraid that this is so simple and formulaic while simultaneously lacking melodicism that it rather turns me off.

Original review written for Black Wind Metal