|
Imagine Equilibrium without the keyboards. If you can do that you'll have a good idea of the sounds presented by Tyrael on this, their debut album.
The vocals in particular are very reminiscent of ex-Equilibrium singer Helge Stang. Joschka Prangenberg is certainly quite diverse as, whilst he constantly sings in an extreme style he does alternate between hoarse rasping shrieks that would be at home on any raw black metal album you care to mention and guttural growls that wouldn't sound out of place on a brutal death metal album. Personally I preferred the rasping style to the deep growls.
Tyrael have, in true Spinal Tap fashion, had a long line of drummers. I just hope that none of them exploded on stage! It seems like they've found a top class skin-man now though as the drumming of Mario Althapp is one of the albums strongest points. The pounding double bass is a joy to listen to and the drums in general drive the songs forward more than any other element.
This album falls down somewhat in the guitar section though and, for a metal band, this is not a good thing. Its not that the guitars are bad at all. Some of the riffs are really good and the acoustic song Wo Sind die Meinen is really nice. Its just the sound of the guitars is to my ears, really very weak. I almost found them annoying in parts!
Musically Der Wald ist mein Zuhause is a black metal album, but not really traditional black metal. It actually bears a lot more in common with the aforementioned Equilibrium's style of blackened folk metal rather than anything like Darkthrone, 1349 or Gorgoroth. There is an overall light-hearted, bouncy feel to a lot of the songs that is far removed from the 'kvlt', grim and violent feel of black metal.
When I first put this album on I was a little underwhelmed, but as it progressed I found myself getting into the Tyrael sound and really enjoying it. Tyrael don't really present anything new here but if you give it a chance you may find something to like. The talent is certainly present in the band, but they need to work on some of the negative points which show through on this album, primarily the guitar sound.
|
|
