After a COVID-induced delay one of my favourite bands, Altaria, is releasing a new album on July 8th called 'Wisdom'. 13 years since they last released an album, and 16 years since they last had Taage Laiho, one of my favourite vocalists, as part of the band. Looking forward to it. Their 'Divinity' album from 2004 is one of those where I legitimately love every song.
Dat melodic guitar opening
no wah pedal in sight. Awesome lyrics too.
Great rhythm throughout the entire song, top-tier chorus, sweet solo.
Probably their most famous song by far, Altaria's OFTW. 02:08 - 03:07 is just
Perfection. The way the melodic guitar builds to a crescendo between 02:28 and 02:49 is just amazing.
According to the tracklist they're also rerecording 'History of Times to Come' from their first album, Invitation. They had a different vocalist back then and the album in general is more in the vein of traditional power metal than melodic metal, as their later albums were, so I'm very interested to hear the Taage's take on it. Am sure it'll be better than the fucking Clayman rerecordings.
02:48 - 03:08, more incredible guitar work
I actually really like Invitation as an album, although the vocals are probably an acquired taste. I much prefer Taage, but Johan Mattjus has a pretty unique voice as well. He came back 14 years later for Altaria's farewell (at the time) show, and sounded just as good live as he did on the album.
Probably not to anybody's taste here, but fuck it, I'm excited