Charter to Nowhere

#2 In My USPM Rarities Review Series

Holy Shitballs! This fucking shreds! Solar Eagle had a great sound, and awesome potential, hailing form the Toronto, Ontario scene that also spawned thrash bands like Slaughter, Infernäl Mäjesty, Massacre and Lethal Presence. At a time where the majority of metalheads in the city had turned to the new thing; thrash, Solar Eagle stuck the their guns with the USPM sound, and churned out this overlooked gem of power metal domination. Their sound is at times aggressive, and full of shredding solos, with a fantastical feel and ambience that at times reminds you of Iron Maiden, the first Queensryche EP, or bands like Banshee or Heir Apparent. The band comes across as talented, with great ideas and songwriting and with a soaring vocalist in Smash that reminds me of the powerful Doug Trevisan from Fatal Violence. Very strong and totally recommended.

In ‘Chains of Gold’ we start of dark and melodic, with a yearning, sad, and brilliantly toned guitar intro, before some real shredding, coupled with the thunderous and ominous drums of ‘Rob’s foreboding tom rolls. By the time Smash’s incredible soaring vocals start you’re in power metal heaven. This one features heavy use of that classic USPM hallmark echoed reverb effect on the vocals, and this is put to incredibly good use with Samsh’s evil shrieking approach, that sounds like an aggressive half Banshee/half Geoff Tate circa 1983 hybrid – I hate to make this comparison too, but he sounds like the late, great Midnight (Crimson Glory). Killer stuff. In the melodic, technical and well crafted slower sections, we get riffs and drum instruments that sound exactly like the kind of things you’d find on Iron Maiden’s stunning ‘Piece of Mind’. There are some very technical, yet utterly aggressive and powerful scaley riffs thrown in all over this song, and a great deal of variety. This is an all-round beautiful track, which is technical, thrilling, and features many different sections. This is a favourite song for me and it just typifies everything that’s amazing about obscure USPM. At almost 9 minutes long, you cannot possibly be bored for one beautiful second of this absolutely top-tier effort. I haven’t heard anything this mind-blowing since Fatal Violence or the Heir Apparent debut.

Other tracks are very strong too. The more conventional and shortest song ‘The Unicorn’ is a blisteringly paced power metal attack that sounds a bit like a furious Iron Maiden at times. The shouted, angry vocal from Smash are brilliant, and of course echoed to hell, and there’s some good use of vocal twinning – which creates some real magic. The riffs are again heavy in scales, and very fast and technical, yet utterly pleasing to the ear. This one is a fast and nasty power metal assault that will leave you dead on the floor. Phenomenal from start to finish. Meanwhile, the title track ‘Charter to Nowhere’ starts of as a depressive, melancholic ballad, with soft, dark guitar tones, and some emotion adding keys underscoring them. When vocals kick in we are reminded of a strong slower number form Screamer or Crimson Glory. Lyrics are fantastical and epic, and as always, Smash is on form. This song isn’t quite as amazing as a Crimson Glory ballad, as the chorus in the first section isn’t as strong, but you know what? – You can’t get much closer than this attempt. Once the song kicks into heavy mode, we are treated to excellently toned guitars, and some more Iron Maidenish feel on the instruments.

I could describe the other tracks, but this brilliant thing has to be heard to be believed. For a first effort by the band this is stunning, and it’s even more amazing how unknown this awesome band is. Every great hallmark of quality USPM is here, with proficient musicianship at every spot, and brilliantly crafted songs that scream with prowess and emotion. There’s a lot of good US bands out there, but this eats half of them at least. All tracks are excellent, and it seems like the band is already at veteran status as opposed to this being their sophomore outing. Smash is an exceptional vocalist with that classic USPM tone, and the instruments are handled expertly throughout the thing. This band could have done great things, but alas, only the two releases. Oh well, at least the songs are long! Do yourself a favour and pick this amazing thing up right now.

-DeathRiderDoom