Welcome to the Theater

Sweden's ReinXeed are self described as OST (original soundtrack) inspired melodic power metal. Even the name of this release is movie inspired, “Welcome to the Theater.” Anytime a band proclaims itself as cinematic or inspired by the modern theatrical industry thoughts of Rhapsody immediately pop into my head. Honestly, Rhapsody has been flying that flag for over a decade. Is ReinXeed able to incorporate their love of movie scores into a power metal base without compromising the heaviness of the metal or the complexity and emotive nature of OST music?

ReinXeed is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tommy Johansson. Johansson started ReinXeed as a one man project, doing all composing, vocals and instruments. Only in recent history has Johansson opened the doors for other members, to play shows and whatnot. Johansson and crew blaze through ten tracks of fast paced extremely melodic power metal.

The album starts off with what could be the introductory score for some type of epic adventure drama. The orchestral pieces continue, mostly sounding exactly like a movie soundtrack, through the entire album. Reinxeed just seem to play their brand of power metal over top of the soundtrack music. Every track some form of orchestration accompanying it and anytime the band slows down, the pieces come racing to the forefront, giving a very grandiose feel to them. Surprisingly, the orchestrations are not over bearing or done to the point of annoyance. Even though they are played the whole way through the album, it doesn't take away from the overall feel, but rather adds a spark of continuity throughout the entire release.

Orchestrations aside, ReinXeed are definitely power metal based, but calling them a melodic power metal is very misleading. While the orchestrations are definitely melodic, the metal aspect of the album is a much heavier beast. The music is really reminiscent of keyboard driven power metal with touches of melodic death and even thrash elements. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't like Heathen or Exodus playing power metal or even like Dark Tranquillity taking a stab at the lighter things in life. For elaboration, I will delve into the sounds and nuances of the instruments and vocals.

The guitars, for the most part, are along the lines of standard prog influenced power Metal. ReinXeed doesn't go into the flowery Gamma Weeny styles of many Euro power bands. Rather, take the progressive power styling of Time Requiem and combine with the chugging, galloping power thrash of early Iced Earth and blend it with the intensity and speed of Kalmah. I'm not trying to say that the guitars are extremely heavy, just that they are heavier than most melodic power metal bands. As a whole, “Welcome to the Theater” displays some excellent solos and tasteful lead breaks. The guitarists have definitely done their homework, as this is an extremely fun listen.

The drums and bass provide an extremely solid backbone. The bass has some nice breaks with the orchestrations. The drums are mostly standard run on the double bass, but the fills and tempos move into galloping and rollicking sections a la Iron Maiden. The keyboards tend to keep the score music moving along. Like I said, it seems like the band plays along while the OST music keeps going in the background.

The vocals really remind me of Kotipelto. A higher midrange voice with a very powerful delivery. He manages to be high pitched without whining or getting off key. The vocals take a back seat to the instrumentation, but definitely don't disappoint when they come on.

Honestly, the only similarities to Rhapsody are the fact that they are both power metal and that they both have cinematic themes. I would brand ReinXeed as a progressive power metal band with flairs of the heavier things in life. This is definitely recommended to fans of prog inspired power metal and also fans of heavier music looking to start into power metal. Final analysis: an awesome release that just proves not all power metal albums are created equal. If ReinXeed can continue in this vein, they certainly have found themselves one more fan.

Written for: http://www.metal-observer.com/