Three Kings

Although I was really quite taken with Stormzone’s latest effort, the massively hooky Lucifer’s Factory, I’ve had a couple more problems feeling the same way about Three Kings, which was released 5 years earlier with three fifths of the same line-up. Perhaps it’s the order of the songs, since I feel that this album drags in a way Lucifer’s Factory managed to escape, despite both records containing 13 songs and lasting about 65 minutes. Perhaps it’s also more evident that the bite of the guitars is utilized in ways more often described as hard than heavy, while the darkness of the themes in 2018’s effort gave it a more intense feel.

Let me explain that Three Kings still offers a solid workout of classic heavy metal and some lighter moments before I deal with my personal dissatisfaction. John Harbinson really has the right voice for this kind of stuff, using his flexible pipes to make accessible hooks all over the place and reach for some more ambitious notes. By contrast, the instrumentalists have slightly more fundamental targets, such as changing up gritty chugging and chord-based riffs with flowing melodies and some clean sections, or building up martial atmosphere during opener ‘The Pain Inside’, which appears to kick off with a Winston Churchill speech. That means we get all the different kinds of songs you would expect from a lengthy heavy metal album, such as the steadier rocking cuts (‘I Am the One’), faster aggressive material (‘Wallbreaker’), epic melodic singalongs (‘Night of the Storm’), and softer ballads (‘Beware in Time’).

What holds this back from the big leagues is thus a matter of margins, not ability or style. In the first place, it’s absurd of Stormzone to continue making every album so long, especially since most of the songs fill a similar 5 minute timeframe regardless of the musical complexity contained within. That’s the second point against Three Kings: 5 minutes of the upbeat, lead guitar-soaked ‘Alive’ suits me well, but dragging less energetic songs like ‘The Pass Loning’ and ‘Beware in Time’ beyond that limit isn’t smart. You’ll also notice that I haven’t mentioned any of the songs that close this album, which is because generally I can’t be bothered to listen all the way through Three Kings with full attention, meaning that – whatever the quality of stuff like ‘B.Y.H.’ – I’m never really going to notice it. From a more personal point of view, too many acoustic and ballad sections really turn me off, while the keyboards that subtly altered the feel of Lucifer’s Factory would have been a positive here too, as would more adventurous lead guitar and less predictable song structures.

I possibly sound a bit harsh on Stormzone with these criticisms, since most rockers and metalheads will admit that Three Kings has a bunch of good material when viewed song by song. However, the sum is much less than the parts and that’s a shame. This kind of music is supposed to be a celebration, so allowing it to enter realms of boredom is the worst crime that can be committed. If the title track and ‘Alive’ sound good from this one, you could probably cherry-pick the best cuts from each of Stormzone’s albums and have yourself a real good time.