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THE STORYTELLER ‘Underworld’ Black Lodge (2005)
What is it that you do when, instead of listening to the refined melodies of a Rock Musical, you come across a whole load of fast guitar riffs and classic heavy metal vocals? Nothing, especially if it just so happens that you are the only person to blame for this misconception… It must have been the quite delicate album cover art of the "Underworld" that made me believe that this was another one of Ferdy Doernberg's rock musical releases entitled Storyteller's Rain, but that was really not the case.
"Underworld" is the 4th full-length release from the Swedish Heavy/Power metal outfit The Storyteller - a band whose music is a mixture of classic Heavy Metal (Saxon, Running Wild) with modern Power Metal, similar to the likes of Helloween and Hammerfall. Now I'm not particularly fond of the latter, but when a band mentions Saxon and Running Wild as their main influences, I am more than happy to spend my quite limited free time listening to their work.
The feelings that occurred after having listened to the ten compositions that are featured on this album were mixed. The first few songs were quite pleasant to listen to, especially the medieval tunes of "The Fiddler" and the Running Wild-influenced guitar riff of "Watcher in the Deep", but they were not powerful enough to convince me that I should choose to invest in them rather than any other of the numerous Power Metal bands that are out there, waiting to be noticed.
Having already ventured half way through the album, I was starting to lose hope when the sweet melody of the same-titled, mid-tempo sensation "Underworld" filled the room, and left me hopelessly paralysed in front of my stereo. My neighbours can confirm that I have listened to this track numerous time since that very day, and I still cannot explain what it is that makes me so fond of this song, but I can guarantee you that this song's melodies will "torture" my ears for the years to come! After a short break with "Magic Elements", I was presented with the second most important composition of the album which is entitled "Shine On". This is a powerful but slow composition with a strong epic metal feel to it, whose main guitar theme will probably remind you of Morgana Lefay's "Maleficium" - a song whose contribution will gather enough points to help increase the overall score of the album.
I found "Underworld" to be quite an interesting album. I particularly liked the fact that, even though it sounds quite modern, it is still based on the classic metal formulas of the 80's, and that makes it less cheesy than most of the Power Metal releases that I come across nowadays. The one point that I feel the need to make is that the members of this band must follow their own example, and invest more in ideas that are presented in the two previously mentioned compositions. That should do the trick!
***½
Review by John Stefanis
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