All Is Dust

Whaddya know? DRD writing a review on something besides obscure 80’s metal. Well, when I saw that this awesome, relatively unknown masterpiece by Canadian PMers ‘Icewind’ was unreviewed, I thought I better impart some of how I felt about this totally addictive, enjoyable modern power metal offering. Basically what you get here is pretty classy stuff; Blind Guardian, Kamelot and other bands spring to mind, as do others like Domain, or Andromeda for reason. Anyway, I stumbled across this one on a blog somewhere and was totally addicted to it for a while a few months ago. It still enjoys the odd crank too, and on a related note it’s rather disappointing this is their only album on offer.

The album kicks off with majestic layered, emotive vocals delivered over speedy double kicks, production touches, and Gregorian backup chants amalgamating into the opener ‘Winter Heaven’. A great track, yet one which perhaps eclipsed by the even more stellar follow-up ‘Walking Alone’ – a number which continues to showcase the awesome, clean and conviction-filled vocal stylings of Gabriel Langelier. Great vocal harmonies prove themselves common on this album, and are perhaps best experienced here. Lots of little background vocal harmonies add to the complexity and impact here. Piano in this one is almost likely to bring a tear to the eye, and the chorus is catchy and energetic, rather uplifting, really. Riffage is fairly straightforward however, more serving to gallop along underneath the showpiece vocal arrangements and piano keys – however there are some enjoyable little licks here and there. A definite favourite with this track.

Guitars are perhaps more prominent in tracks like ‘Follow the Wind’, yet however, pianos and huge, majestic, symphonic vocal layerings take centre stage. Memorable vocal hooks such as “No-one can change our way!” are sure to get your average modern PM fan raising some fists. Nifty solos in this one interact nicely with some fancy finger work on the keys. A really noticeable change-over of guitarists works well, and there’s some good speed-metal riffage in the body. While there are some great guitar bits, this brand of power metal often seems to somewhat overshadow them with huge vocal choruses, production, etc, yet stronger bits are here and there. Your title track is perhaps the most epic, with an immense buildup, and some typically badass sing-along verses. This one’s catchy as hell due to it’s layout, but has the typical understated guitars.

Basically, the whole album is fucking brilliant – great catchy, majestic tunes with an awesome vocalist – totally emotional, triumphant and over-the-top. ‘Inner Storm’ is another good one. I guess it’s pretty hard to find a favourite for me, so just give it a listen, and you make the call. Anyway, this album is killer modern power metal with all the hallmarks and plenty of catchiness and memorability. Full credit to this relatively unknown act for churning out a solid effort. No if they could only get round to offering a follow-up? Anyway – the only downside on this is the recording/production; quite rough and demo-ish, but totally bearable – a bit strange after listening to Kamelot I guess – that’s all.

-DeathRiderDoom