Elvenking
Red Silent Tides

Not happening.

Let's start with the premise that we are faced with one of the few bands in the current Metal scene that operates as a sort of continuous "work in progress."

We notice, in fact, how from album to album the group has presented a strong Folk Metal orientation initially, moving through a predominance of Power Metal elements, to eventually include tracks in their albums that wouldn't look out of place in a Death Metal tracklist (see the album "The Scythe").

Consequently, the latest album, "Red Silent Tides", cannot be separated from the band's musical trajectory, and therefore must necessarily be judged as a step in the group’s musical growth.

From this perspective, it represents more of a regression than an evolution.

Almost entirely losing the Death vein, the Folk atmosphere timidly reappears, which seemed irretrievably lost with "The Scythe".

And up to here, there wouldn’t be anything wrong. It's a pity that along with the Folk, that very melodic (commercial!?) Power reappears, which we found in tracks like "The Divided Heart"; clear evidence of this can particularly be found in two tracks of the album we are analyzing: "The Last Hour" and the rather weak single, "The Cabal".

Is this an album to dismiss from the start?

No.

Because alongside these "flaws" there are also some good performances by the group, such as track no. 3 "Silence de Mort", which is characterized by a breath of almost Doom-like darkness and chill, or the excellent "Runereader".

In conclusion, a regression in the sound of Elvenking, which however leaves open a lot of options for the future; some indisputable, but others very interesting.

To buy? If you are fans of this band, which we remember is one of the few reasons for Italian pride in terms of Metal, then yes.

Otherwise, I don't think it's worth purchasing an album to then end up not even listening to half of it.