A Flame to the Ground Beneath

Back in 2000, I slotted an album titled ‘Awakening the World’ by Swedish metal band ‘Lost Horizon’ at no.6 in my Top 10 albums of the year. Close friends of mine couldn’t understand my logic. First, who the fuck is this band they said? And secondly, what is so special about their debut album? I tried forcing it down their throats, mostly resulting in some ambivalent, dismissive attitudes. Maybe I was a little over the top in my praise for LH but I was positive there was something ‘special’ about this band. Just you wait until their next album I said.

Since then, and having realized that a bands ‘second’ effort is usually a difficult assignment, I was prepared for a total let down with LH’s follow up to ‘Awakening…’ I was also willing to bear the brunt of ‘I told you so’ like comments once my so-called metal brothers had heard this new disc. Fortunately my fears have been waylaid in the most emphatic fashion. Lost Horizon have not only delivered a massive metal epic in ‘A Flame to the Ground Beneath’, they have also put the entire true metal/power metal genre to the sword.

Lost Horizon is categorized as a True Metal band by others and is officially “marketing” themselves under that tag. Comparisons to Hammerfall and Stratovarius have also been bandied around as points of reference – yet, as far as I am concerned, for LH to be mentioned in the same sentence as those bands is pure folly. Sure, stylistically Lost Horizon is a classic eighties true metal inspired act and sound wise, inspiration is derived from that entire metal era - like Maiden, Judas, Manowar, Dio, Riot etc. Yet, LH is so much more. The power metal aspect is also worth mentioning, yet they work so far outside the circle of that genre’s limitations it’s absurd. If I could suggest something a bit more specific, LH have all of the hallmarks of classic USA epic metal coupled with classic European power metal ideology – add the obligatory ‘modern approach’ production wise and you have something a bit more tangible. Not forgetting the seriously awesome melodic aspects to this band, both musically and vocally. And unlike much of the true/power metal acts they might have a SLIGHT resemblance too, LH provide all they do without one hint of CHEESE.

‘Awakening..’ was a full on, double bass/fast up-tempo metal record. We could have expected the same here. Yet, true to their word, AFTTGB is a different beast than the killer debut. It is by comparison, not as technical nor as aggressive. It is, however, a much more harmonious, melodic and balanced. A certain maturity and red line purpose runs through this record with magnificent confidence. ‘A Flame…’ is also extremely dramatic, emotive and epic in nature. Seven long drawn out tracks (plus an intro and outro) ranging in length from 6 to 12 minutes makes this a challenging listen also. But I tell you now, not one second of ‘A Flame..’ is flawed. The production and musical arrangements are simply brilliant – powerful and clear with maximum effect.

As magnificent as the music is, it is the vocals that take LH into their own metal stratosphere. LH possess a singer that is so talented that I find it hard to comprehend how no one is falling over backwards in awe at his amazing range. He's reaching high notes with such ease (many singers of this ilk force such a style), his mid tone is incredibly powerful his versatility as a singer is evident through his use of a wider range than the previous album. This guy is up with Jorne Lande in terms of power and emotion, that’s how fucking good he is.

Trying to spot highlights is a waste of time – let me just say ‘the whole fucking lot if it’. Seriously, there is no filler here – each track has its stunning LH quality stamped all over it. At nine tracks with two instrumentals (a spacey intro and outro) I’d would have loved the band to slot another ‘song’ on this just for a little more impact, but at 52 minutes and seven very lengthy ‘songs’ included, there isn’t too much to complain about.

For the record punters, close to the end of February, I can safely say that this album will be riding very close to the top of my best of list come the end of 2003 – A big call, but on the strength of AFTTGB, there would have to be some massively good releases this year to force this out of my calculations. A MUST HAVE!!