Ravenhead

The question of what truly defines power metal has become a bit difficult to answer in recent years due to the heavy expansion of its definition. Where before the style was marked primarily for a more consonant evolutionary step out of the speed/thrash style while still maintaining the speed factor, things have become a bit more multifaceted, largely due to the heavy infusion of symphonic, progressive, Gothic and modern rock influences. Orden Ogan essentially stormed into this climate several years ago (not counting their folksy outlier of a debut Testimonium A.D., a very different beast all its own) by staking a somewhat more conservative path that reintroduced a lot of the speed/thrash elements while also keeping an eye to consonant melodies and a set of hooks that recalls their early folk elements in a manner similar to Blind Guardian. With the release of Ravenhead, it appears that the band has opted to inch themselves just a tiny bit closer to the modern school of power metal, though with quite masterful results.

If this band's astounding previous outing To The End could be likened to the Blind Guardian magnum opus of Middle Earth majesty, this latest excursion into the realm of dark fantasy by Orden Ogan could largely be likened to the massive sounding, occasionally symphonic but still heavily driving character of A Night At The Opera, while managing to avoid some of the mechanical sounding pitfalls of said polarizing album. The biggest commonality is obviously the heavy vocal layering, which permeates pretty much every chorus section of this album while somehow not crowding out the rest of the arrangement. Seeb Levermann has always had a slight Hansi Kursch tinge to his vocals, but this time around he comes off as a bit more aggressive than previously, further blurring the lines between emulation and imitation. The only area where the band kind of shies away from full out Blind Guardian worship is the lead guitar department, which while also layered, occurs a bit less frequently and is a bit more technically geared than an extension of the folk melodies inherent in the rest of the songwriting.

While the bulk of Ravenhead tends to play off a fairly similar melodic set that is slightly influenced by some more extreme purveyors of folk tinged metal such as Suidakra (a band that Seeb was briefly involved as a live musician), the contrast between each song largely occurs in degrees of speed and aggression. On the lighter side of the equation is the semi-ballad turned epic celebration of massiveness "F.E.V.E.R.", starting off with a simple piano line and evolving into something quite more astounding before calling it quits. On the heavier end of things is a chunky, groove tinged beast turned choral painted speeder "The Lake". Things even manage to get thrashed up in a manner comparable to the more raucous moments on Persuader's take on Blind Guardian worship on "Deaf Among The Blind". But the out and out zenith(s) of this album's impressive array of variations on a theme are the title song "Ravenhead", which manages to mix in some slight melodic death elements into the riff work, and the spellbinding and de facto closing song (it's followed by two shorter and less complete afterthoughts) "Sorrow Is Your Tale". Pure fodder for the power metal enthusiast that wants the massiveness of Rhapsody Of Fire, but with less orchestral pomp and a bit more of a guitar presence.

This doesn't quite top the career high point that To The End continues to be until this very day, but it gets pretty close, and provides an interestingly polished and slick foil to the generally harder edge character of this band's signature sound. In a sense, this is a bit more of a power metal album after the original spirit of the revival that took place in the late 90s with the arrival of an array of impressive and ambitious albums from the German scene, leaning a bit closer to the epic side of things rather than the overt speed metal character of the likes of Running Wild and Helloween, but definitely keeping an eye to maintaining a common root with the older guard that didn't fully adopt the pomp and grandeur that came into the equation later. A definite winner for those who love the genre, and yet another new classic finds this younger band surpassing their older counterpart Blind Guardian. Three cheers for the order that reigns by fear!