Secret Sphere - Heart & Anger
Nuclear Blast Records - NB 1449-2 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
To these power metal-weary ears, Italian sextet Secret Sphere's latest album is strangely akin to being worked over by a determined group of emotionless torturers. No matter how strongly I may struggle to retain my stoney-faced cynicism and sneer at the shiny-production sporting pomp and splendour of a euro-power metal album complete with full orchestral backing, Secret Sphere keep pulling out the musical equivalents of thumb screws, testicle-mounted electrodes and flesh-searing blowtorches. Before the third track was finished, my extreme metal grimace had been slapped away and I was headbanging along like a Manowar-worshipping goon.
Amazingly, that fact isn't too much a result of the presence of the orchestra, either. In fact, Secret Sphere's major failing in this album is their generally criminal underuse of the orchestra's considerable talents. A dramatic intro track, a rousing backing to 'First Snake', and a spectacularly epic marriage of symphony, choir and band on 'Lights On', and for the most part, that's your lot. With care and effort, the group could have trounced Rhapsody in the 'hollywood metal' stakes. As it is, the orchestra provides sound-filling duties and occasionally pulse-raisingly effective accompaniment to already detailed arrangements.
No, in fact it's more due to the diversity of songwriting talent on display within the tracks on this album that work on my steely resolve with the tenacity of a Guantanamo bay interrogator. The thrashy opening to 'Leonardo Da Vinci', the heavy and dirty riffage on display throughout 'Loud And Raw', the occasional flashes of gothic grandiosity and proggish ambition, all come together to form an alarmingly infectious and entirely cohesive whole. That all this is combined with a particularly effective vocal performance from the impressively ranged vocalist and some really, really uplifting and powerful choruses is simply the icing on the cake. It's undoubtedly spectacularly cheesy, but it's still one of the better power metal albums I've heard. Let's have more of the orchestra next time though, eh guys?
7/10
Official Secret Sphere Website
Official Nuclear Blast Records Website
Nuclear Blast Records - NB 1449-2 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
To these power metal-weary ears, Italian sextet Secret Sphere's latest album is strangely akin to being worked over by a determined group of emotionless torturers. No matter how strongly I may struggle to retain my stoney-faced cynicism and sneer at the shiny-production sporting pomp and splendour of a euro-power metal album complete with full orchestral backing, Secret Sphere keep pulling out the musical equivalents of thumb screws, testicle-mounted electrodes and flesh-searing blowtorches. Before the third track was finished, my extreme metal grimace had been slapped away and I was headbanging along like a Manowar-worshipping goon.
Amazingly, that fact isn't too much a result of the presence of the orchestra, either. In fact, Secret Sphere's major failing in this album is their generally criminal underuse of the orchestra's considerable talents. A dramatic intro track, a rousing backing to 'First Snake', and a spectacularly epic marriage of symphony, choir and band on 'Lights On', and for the most part, that's your lot. With care and effort, the group could have trounced Rhapsody in the 'hollywood metal' stakes. As it is, the orchestra provides sound-filling duties and occasionally pulse-raisingly effective accompaniment to already detailed arrangements.
No, in fact it's more due to the diversity of songwriting talent on display within the tracks on this album that work on my steely resolve with the tenacity of a Guantanamo bay interrogator. The thrashy opening to 'Leonardo Da Vinci', the heavy and dirty riffage on display throughout 'Loud And Raw', the occasional flashes of gothic grandiosity and proggish ambition, all come together to form an alarmingly infectious and entirely cohesive whole. That all this is combined with a particularly effective vocal performance from the impressively ranged vocalist and some really, really uplifting and powerful choruses is simply the icing on the cake. It's undoubtedly spectacularly cheesy, but it's still one of the better power metal albums I've heard. Let's have more of the orchestra next time though, eh guys?
7/10
Official Secret Sphere Website
Official Nuclear Blast Records Website
