Keeper of the Flame

Keeper of the Flame by one-and-done North Dakota power-thrashers Valhalla, is yet another good example of how even just one poorly-placed, poorly-conceived, poorly-delivered power ballad can throw off the enjoyment of an entire album which would be otherwise a more-than-solid effort.

I do have a weakness for the Metal Church / Agent Steel / Lääz Rockit / Steel Prophet / early Manowar ‘school’ of aggressive, in-your-face, thrashy American power metal (as if anyone couldn’t tell that from my Tad Morose reviews). Keeper of the Flame sounds like—and from the angry Viking wizard album cover art, looks like—it could easily belong in such heroic company.

And the ‘magic begins’ quite strongly indeed, with thick, crunchy, powerful riffs and a fun melodic kick. They know their genre and they know it well: ‘Magic Begins’, ‘Resine’, ‘Through the Darkness’ and (to a lesser extent) ‘Fool’ all reside comfortably within a Robert E Howard, sword-and-sorcery dark fantasy realm. ‘Resine’ certainly has that epic Viking feel, with a minor-key Middle Eastern intonation (Varangian influence, anybody?) which carries along the tale of doomed birth, destined struggle, vengeance and triumph across its entire length. So far, so awesome.

… and then we get to ‘She Lies Awake’. Ugh.

The men-who-done-her-wrong genre can be done excellently on a metal album, even when sung by a man, from a man’s perspective, on a metal album of this kind—think ‘Suite Sister Mary’ on Operation: Mindcrime. But it requires a certain poetic sensibility, a way of showing-not-telling, a way of empathising with the cheated-on girlfriend or spouse and their feelings that isn’t overly sentimental or maudlin. ‘She Lies Awake’ takes exactly the wrong approach: instead of showing empathy, it’s all sympathy. The lyrics are all in the realm of obvious-and-clueless, which turns what ought to be a thoughtful exploration of feelings of betrayal into an exercise in cheap sentiment. And it listens like a mass-produced commercial country song rather than a true power ballad. The melody, as well, is not metal but instead radio-friendly rock in the Foreigner style. And it’s right in the middle of the album, too.

Things veer sharply away from the sword-and-sorcery and dark-fantasy themes with ‘Ghetto’ and ‘Hope You Know’, though Valhalla deliver yet one more solid one-two punch in the forms of ‘Through the Darkness’ and ‘Fool’, which together feature a Holy Diver- or even Rage for Order-esque melodic kick, an excellent genre-transcending vocal performance from Weston, and a kick-ass guitar solo from Gillette. This end of the album ends up sounding like it’s more on the progressive metal side of things than the front end, which is a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. Unfortunately, we get another schmaltzy keyboards-and-vocals only ballad on the tail end with ‘Hope You Know’.

So in the end, what do we have here? We have three-quarters of an awesome power metal album which would be easily in the eighty-five-to-ninety percent range in terms of score… which is marred right in the middle and at the end by a couple of truly sucky ballads. ‘Hope You Know’ at least has a nice melody, and probably could do with a re-record with guitars, bass and drums added in for that additional erg of power. But ‘She Lies Awake’ requires a back-to-the-drawing-board rethink and rewrite, for multiple reasons.

The good parts are still good, though, and well worth listening to. I only wish that Valhalla had stuck around longer, or that they get back together, and follow this album up with something that’s worthy of their clear and formidable talents.

13 / 20