Freternia - A Nightmare Story
2002 - Arise Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Available from Plastic Head Music Distribution.
Another in the rapidly-growing roster of bands on Arise Records who pledge their allegiance to the twin metal gods of Iron Maiden and Helloween, Freternia follow up their debut 'Warchants & Fairytales' with this, a concept album using the medium of Gamma Ray-esque speed/power metal to tell their tale.
Sadly, without the lyric sheet and the time to sit and memorise all of the words to the songs, I can't tell you too much about the story itself, but judging from the artwork, the title and the song names, it's my guess that we have a Tolkien-style fantasy battle between good and evil on our hands here. It's the music I'm here to write about, and of course that sounds pretty much how you would expect it to - drums beats that drive the rhythm riffs forward at some velocity, surging and melodic lead guitar work, soaring vocals, atmospheric synths and keys and understated but efficient bass guitar.
Anyone who owns a Helloween, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian or Iron Maiden album has probably heard this many times before - nothing particularly new or exciting is tried within, but then perhaps nothing has to be. It's well-produced, well-played and well-written heavy metal that brings back a sense of what metal used to be like before people thought rapping and DJs would be a good idea, and frankly there's not enough of that about anymore.
However, nostalgia and retrophilia of that sort does, admittedly, have better champions than Freternia - but you could do much worse than check these out next time you're out for your old-school fix.
7/10
2002 - Arise Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Available from Plastic Head Music Distribution.
Another in the rapidly-growing roster of bands on Arise Records who pledge their allegiance to the twin metal gods of Iron Maiden and Helloween, Freternia follow up their debut 'Warchants & Fairytales' with this, a concept album using the medium of Gamma Ray-esque speed/power metal to tell their tale.
Sadly, without the lyric sheet and the time to sit and memorise all of the words to the songs, I can't tell you too much about the story itself, but judging from the artwork, the title and the song names, it's my guess that we have a Tolkien-style fantasy battle between good and evil on our hands here. It's the music I'm here to write about, and of course that sounds pretty much how you would expect it to - drums beats that drive the rhythm riffs forward at some velocity, surging and melodic lead guitar work, soaring vocals, atmospheric synths and keys and understated but efficient bass guitar.
Anyone who owns a Helloween, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian or Iron Maiden album has probably heard this many times before - nothing particularly new or exciting is tried within, but then perhaps nothing has to be. It's well-produced, well-played and well-written heavy metal that brings back a sense of what metal used to be like before people thought rapping and DJs would be a good idea, and frankly there's not enough of that about anymore.
However, nostalgia and retrophilia of that sort does, admittedly, have better champions than Freternia - but you could do much worse than check these out next time you're out for your old-school fix.
7/10
