Flashback of Anger
Splinters of Life

The coincidence of finding the supposedly lost mp3s in the USB drive that somehow ended up under a nook in the house, and the guilt of yielding to the ultra duplicate of “metal puppet” bring me here: to write about a new and already forgotten album. An album that surely only a few scattered people are aware of and which, despite its limitations, I believe deserves a bit of spotlight.

It won't be easy for you to find it, you won't stumble upon it like on a treacherous root on a mountain path, but if what is written here piques your interest, you'll have to go look for it.

There is talk, perhaps rightly, that power metal is dying: murdered without much ceremony by its own creators due to the proliferation of sterile duplicates. This could be evidenced by the fact that even I now, before embarking on a car journey, slide my finger over these CDs of the genre more hesitantly and often end up choosing something else.

Why should Flashback of Anger be different? They're not; they are generally part of that trend. To give you an idea, the CD was produced by Gamma Ray guitarist Henjo Richter. There are fewer gallops, more introspective pieces, there is a particularly significant use of the piano, this is true, but there are plenty of accompanying keyboards, no lack of high and clear vocals and solos ready to seal particularly successful melodies. What compels me to write about this debut is simply that it is a well-packaged and satisfying CD. I believe that along with The Dogma, these guys have the potential and the age to lift the scene a bit.

While it is true that "All I Have," "Back In The Madness," and "Strange Illusion"  show the more banal and poor side characterized by the usual scales, Splinters of Life does not lack more convincing compositional moments. The beautiful slow songs "The Outer World" and "Stars" highlight the singer and are enriched by a delightful sonic backdrop of the piano with classical flavors. Joining the tracks, as demonstrated by the follow-up "Void Within Me", is also a sign of maturity and a desire to not conceive pieces as individual hits to place in an MTV-like perspective. The title track of the CD and "Off With My Heart" are also in constant motion, alternating (with time changes and vocal tones that denote skill) metallic and dark bursts with neoclassical and melodic interludes that are sure to captivate.

Being a debut, I cannot know if such pleasant deviations undertaken, if that desire to move within the genre they play, are merely luck that will disappear with the next CD or not. That is enough for me to highlight an honest work like this, in which you can finally even hear the simple use of the bass, no longer perpetually overwhelmed by the insufferable and cold helicopter drum like increasingly often happens.

ilfreddo