Progpower band that blew me away Anthriel -The Pathway

dionysus11

MSTmike3K
Feb 28, 2008
561
2
18
Columbus GA
I just heard this new Prog/Power band Anthriel it kicks ass



Formed in 2004 by guitarist Timo Niemistö, keyboardist Antti Hakulinen and drummer Jari Kuokkanen the band went through a couple of line up variations before finding bassist Klaus Wirzenius and ultimately released a 3 track e.p. “Visions of Inner Light and Deeper Thoughts” in 2007 which won considerable praise on the underground metal circuit. Yet it was until the band found powerhouse vocalist Simo Silvan in 2008 that the bands sound became fully realised.

Anthriel - the Archangel of balance and harmony is the perfect name for the bands music. With a sound driven by big guitar riffs, deft keyboard touches, a rock solid articulate rhythm section and a healthy dose of expressive vocals high in melody built into intricate yet digestible arrangements this is metal that is easily appreciated on first listen – yet where further plays reveal numerous hidden depths that will keep the listener coming back for more. The quality of material would not be best represented with anything less than a superb production and this is exactly what the “The Pathway” serves up being an impressive self production by Timo Niemistö and mix by Jussi Kulomaa at MSTR Studios.

On the bands sound Simo Silvan comments, “We don't want to go extremity with any style of music. There is a time for a head banging and time for musical landscaping. We try to keep our music as versatile we can. "The Pathway” is a mixture of various different kind of music styles like heavy, pop, acoustic, orchestral and instrumental and symphonic metal. The music and lyrics were written hand in hand with the album theme”.

Thematically “The Pathway” is a concept based on a sequence of individual songs and themes with inspiration coming from R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms: "The Dark Elf Trilogy".

On the basic premise of “The Pathway” Timo Niemistö comments, “The Pathway is the story of a man who finds himself grown against his former principles and philosophy of life. He decides to leave his past behind and begin a journey to find his own personal promised land and balance. As the path gets rough good and evil starts to battle in his mind where the reality and fantasy gets mixed. He puts the blame to the Gods for playing with his life and turns his adversities to the divine entertainment with consequences that ultimately lead to the discovery of perfect harmony from within his own soul”.

This compelling story is a captivating lyrical theme for the first class musicianship on offer all of which comes together to make “Anthriel – The Pathway” a serious contender for best newcomers in progressive metal in 2010
 
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Yeah there is a thread about them already here from before. Pretty good band with a charismatic, powerful singer. For me the singer actually makes the band. Without him at the helm their music is pretty run of the mill solid prog power but he lifts them to greater heights with his great vocals.
 
[In my view] The musicianship and production are very good but I've listened the entire album a few times & I can't quite understand why so many people are praising such a below average album. The vocalist has a good voice/tone but someone in their camp has no idea how to incorporate lyrics to music and usually that task will fall upon the vocalist. Most of the songs are unlistenable, (to me), because of either horrible song writing or the lack of incorporating the lyrics to the music in a way that adds listen-ability to the song. There's no hooks, no big chorus. The songs start with high hopes and then the vocalist start singing, (with good tone and technique), but then it goes nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. Disappointing really, I think they need a new vocalist to straighten this problem out, (or better song writing). It's an obvious problem.

Music (execution & writing): 8.5/10
Vocals (as far as contributing anything to the song): -3/10 ... I would literally enjoy the songs more if they were instrumentals.
 
For the life of me, I can't figure out what the fuss is over this band. They're good yes but not worthy of all of the praise imo. The band is good, the singer's OK but the problem is the songs- they're just NOT catchy enough except for a few. I have this disc and have listened several times and I like some of it but overall they need to write better songs. Just sayin'..............
 
I haven't heard the older material and the prior singer, but I liked this guy's voice a lot. Gritty, rocky, and very theatrical. Sounds fine to me. That song was decent too, I might just have to check out a few more tunes.

EDIT: Just found this song, I really dug this!
 
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I haven't heard the older material and the prior singer, but I liked this guy's voice a lot. Gritty, rocky, and very theatrical. Sounds fine to me. That song was decent too, I might just have to check out a few more tunes.

EDIT: Just found this song, I really dug this!



Didn't care for the other singer but this guys good. Thanks for posting. Why the heck did they get rid of him..??
 
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Wow I love the Pathway, its been on heavy rotation since I discovered Anthriel back n November. I had no idea that is was based on R.A's best trilogy, thematically or however but that is awesome. R.A Salvatore is my favorite author, that freaking rules. You dont know how many times I have wanted to write a concept based album on those books, I just am not that great of a writer & composer to do it.

Bear