Shogun

The bards of "literature metal" return in force with yet another ambitious project, the James Clavell-inspired "Shogun". But after delivering a surprisingly satisfying tribute to Tolkien on their previous full-length, did lightning strike twice with this follow-up concept album?

Among the first things a prospective listener notices is just how sizable this album truly is: clocking in at just short of 74 minutes long, the creative juices were certainly flowing in the studio and one expects a lot of bang for his buck. The headbanger who actually pays attention in English Lit class is already preparing himself mentally for a musical adventure of epic proportions, in the proper sense of that adjective. Hell, there's even a ninja on the cover so the album has no choice but to kick an inordinate amount of ass, right? Well...even though this hefty LP aspires to the rank of shogun, it only reaches the rank of hatamoto. A respected retainer to be sure, but certainly not the head honcho in the shogunate. Stormwitch's intentions were good and the effort is laudable in and of itself, but the band's reach exceeded its grasp this time around. I really want to love this album but stylistic flaws prevent it from truly achieving greatness.

Stormwitch did put their best foot forward when it came to adapting Clavell's historical novel into song. The songwriting on "Shogun" is clearly of higher quality than the Lord of the Rings fan fiction that was "War of the Wizards", but the quality of the music itself has lost a few steps. While the aforementioned LotR adaptation was power metal through and through, this one is a bit harder to pin down and comes across as a grab bag of early-90's alternative rock and metal. This is felt from the get-go with "Stranded", which gives hints of some vague groove metal influence in its delivery. Stormwitch were taking hints from the musical zeitgeist for this album, excessively at times; that translates to the guitar stylings of Damir Uzunovic, who impressed me on "War of the Wizards" but treated me to a bumpy ride on "Shogun", albeit not a downright unpleasant one for much of the trip. Gone are the melodic speed metal riffs that would take the power metal scene by storm at the turn of the century, instead we are treated to a surfeit of pinch harmonics. If you don't know what pinch harmonics are, they're the "squealy" guitar effects that Zakk Wylde cannot go for one full song without playing. Listen to any Ozzy Osbourne album after "The Ultimate Sin" or any Killswitch Engage album, it's when the guitar goes "bwoo-oo-oo-oo". Suffice it to say, I am not fond of pinch harmonics at all, owing largely to Wylde's overreliance on them when playing with Ozzy but let's not get sidetracked. Simply put, "Shogun" is saturated with said guitar gimmick, as was the style at the time. The worst culprit by far is the longest track "Good Times - Bad Times", a nine and a half minute waste of time and effort that could've been left on the cutting room floor and nothing of value would have been lost. I get "Call of the Wicked" flashbacks during the irritating and ponderous repetition at the end of the track, ensuring that only bad times were had here. We're occasionally treated to a nifty guitar solo here and there, such as on the Helloweenesque "The King of Winds", but such solos are otherwise sorely lacking. Andy Mück's vocals are generally decent, notable is the nice sustained note at the end of album closer "Somewhere" or some humorously overwrought wails on "I'll Never Forgive" (was he trying to emulate the over-the-top performance of Kabuki actors?), but they don't hit their stride as well as on "War of the Wizards" and even sound flat and powerless on some tracks.

The album does have a number of saving graces to it however. Chief among them is, ironically, Damir's guitar playing when he isn't doing his best Zakk Wylde impression. "Forbidden" and "The King of Winds" stand out as islands of 80's power metal goodness in the sea of 90's alternative metal monotony. And even an otherwise mediocre offering like "Victory Is Mine" (which sounds more and more like "Shoot All the Clowns" from Bruce Dickinson's solo stuff the more I listen to it; again, Stormwitch were trying to be as hip as possible) is rendered a fair deal more bearable by Damir playing chords from the Romanian folk music melody "Ciocârlia" out of nowhere, just because he can. In spite of a more subdued and mainstream-influenced guitar delivery on much of this album, it's these little flashes of brilliance that make all the difference. They can also be heard on my personal favorite track on here, "Let Lessons Begin", which starts off with an appropriately Japanese-sounding acoustic intro before launching into a downright righteous power ballad, in the spirit of the 80's tradition. Finally, the album's unconventional sleeper hit is "Seven Faces (and Two Hearts)", an acoustic piece in the Spanish flamenco style (fitting, as it references the character Rodrigues from the novel). A song doesn't need to be heavy or fast in order to be enjoyable, so long as it isn't boring like chief offender "Good Times - Bad Times".

"Shogun" is a product of its time. Albeit not being anywhere near as egregious a sellout as "Eye of the Storm", it did try to capitalize on what was popular in the rock/metal scene back in 1994. Sadly, the album did not make waves and Stormwitch split up (albeit temporarily) by the end of the year. All things considered, the seventh full-length from Stormwitch is not without merit. If you're a fan of "Shogun" in either written or televised form and don't find pinch harmonics annoying, give this offering a listen and you might very well get a kick out of it.

Standout tracks: Seven Faces (and Two Hearts), Forbidden, Let Lessons Begin, The King of Winds, I'll Never Forgive