Mastercastle
The Phoenix

I will spend little time on this group, completely homegrown and, unfortunately, all power metal with the typical female singer. Singer who, in all honesty, proves to be talented and quite a knockout.

Having said that, I could also end it here and be done with it.

And this is because the genre proposed by Mastercastle is nothing more than the usual rehashed power metal that has endlessly drained us over the past years, with all the clichés of the genre making it even more of a bore than usual.

The real issue, which I intend to focus on, is that many webzines (including eutk.net) or magazines (the usual Rock Hard) have talked about them enthusiastically, almost as if they were the messiah band that would save metal and power from the abyss into which it has fallen.

Unfortunately, I've been fooled too many times in this area, and after overdosing on thrash metal, I've decided to suffer a bit. Also, because it’s been a couple of days since I last went to the bathroom, and there’s nothing better than a power metal album to regulate the intestinal transit.

Sparing Giorgia Gueglio’s performance, the singer, I would point out the songwriting issue.

Don’t expect much (actually, don’t expect anything at all) from an album that opens with a song titled “Words And Swords,” followed by “Princess Of Love” and so on. The titles give you the idea: power metal, epic style, not too symphonic (and this is, perhaps, the only good thing).

They try to be solid and fierce but fail and sink into the “already heard” and recycled. Solos executed perfectly, all “neo-classical and badge!!!!” and Giorgia, as a singer, is not bad but, honestly, doesn’t offer anything that would amaze someone. Just another female vocalist among many other power-female vocalists.

No point in wasting time on a track by track, it wouldn’t serve any purpose. Just as it would be superfluous to say that Pier Gonnella (a very skilled guitarist) performs admirably, along with the rest of the band (Steve Vawamas on bass and the previously mentioned Giorgia).

Songs that shine on their own within the nine-track platter are not there. I might venture to say “Greed Blade”, perhaps for the feeling that Gonnella manages to convey also thanks to a nice guitar solo, and, why not, thanks to Giorgia’s vocal performance who has the good sense, throughout the album, never to overdo her vocal cords, maybe hitting high notes or singing in falsetto which would make her even more irritating than she already is. As it happens, for instance, in the following “Down Of Promise”, which would most likely be the most successful of the lot! A song in which Giorgia sings really well; a song built on great riffs and melodies but that, damn it, gets ruined by the damn high notes that, by convention, in every darn epic-symphonic & the-like power metal album always have to be there. Like ballads, which in this case are reduced to just one, the boring “Lullaby Noir”, whose only purpose is to make you fall asleep unawares.

I’m sorry to stymie a homegrown band, especially on their debut album, but Mastercastle can’t rely solely on perfect and polished production, on songs crafted at the table just to work only among the average 'nerd' power fan.

Well... youthful mistakes? Maybe. Immaturity? Possibly too.

But, heck! Before recording and producing such things, one ought to do a damn “customer satisfaction” among metal consumers to see if it's really necessary and if it’s indeed worth it.

And, damn it, it’s not worth it. Not even half.

Conclusion: stay away from Mastercastle. 

They may have tried hard but the result is more pointless than poor.