Search - Astral Doors :: Of the Son & The Father

This cd is in my top 5 metal/hard cd's of all time.

baby | 03/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Let me first say that I grew up listening to and loving Black

Sabbath, Deep Purple, Mountain, Grand Funk Railroad, Dio, etc. I'm talking about REAL music that (1)the songs are great (interesting and MEMORABLE bass parts, drumming, chord changes, guitar solos, tasty keyboard parts/solos) (2)vocals delivered by a singer with a great voice who sings the well constructed vocal melody lines with intensity. ASTRAL DOORS absolutely have every single element in their songs that make their music timeless and classic hard rock/metal. Their lead singer has an incredible voice... absolutely in the same league with Ronnie James Dio, Ray Gillen, Geoff Tate, Jeff Scott Soto, Danny Vaughn, etc. I could go on and on about how great of a band ASTRAL DOORS are... but I won't. I'll just say in closing, that if you like the rock that you listen-to to be of the utmost highest quality, you must hear the ASTRAL DOORS two cd's."

Dio reincarnated!

Michael T. Raggo | Atlanta, Georgia, USA | 03/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album rocks! No doubt, the singer sounds incredibly like Ronnie James Dio himself. But aside from the great voice and vocals on the album, the music itself is great. Great old school metal in the 21st century. "Long Live Rock 'n Roll!""

Great, but their next two are better

Lens Fortwright | United States | 11/18/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Astral Doors are an interesting band because their first album started out sounding a lot like a Dio album, but despite this, they didn't get slammed for being a Dio clone. Indeed, they have proved on their following two albums that they are not a Dio clone band, but at the time of its release, 'Of The Son and The Father' got such a good reception because, apart from Tony Martin era-Sabbath, there just aren't a lot of other bands with singers who can pull of Ronnie James Dio's style. And really, this is no wonder, he's widely regarded as "THE Voice" of heavy music. A few years ago, Jack Black of Tenacious D wrote a song asking Ronnie James Dio to pass the torch to him, and Dio was flattered, apparently, which is partly why he agreed to appear in Jack's upcoming movie (The Pick of Destiny), but Ronnie's true successor is Nils Patrik Johansson. He's been steadily gaining acclaim in the past few years with his work in several band, including Astral Doors, Wuthering Heights, Spacy Odyssey, and coming this spring: Lion's Share. Although Wuthing Heights has produced some spectacular stuff with him and (I've never heard of the other two) the others are probably good too, it's his first album with the Astral Doors in which Nils really does his finest homage to Dio.



From the album cover to the tracklisting, a Dio fan could expect something which sounds exactly like Holy Diver. However, 'Of The Son and The Father' does not. The guitarist doesn't even try to emulate Viv Campbell, he has his own style, that, working together with a Hammond organ and excellent bass playing, produces some excellent classic riffs, with just a hint of power metal. The first two tracks are instant, catchy classics. The rest of the CD ranges from classic to very good, and this is perhaps my only problem with the CD. It's all good stuff, but compared to the consistentcy you can hear on their next two albums, this is the band's least great album. It's definitely recommended to long time Dio fans, as well as fans of fresh metal, but if you're new to this band, you may enjoy 'Evil Is Forever,' or 'Astralism' a little more.



Pros: Singing reminiscent of Ronnie James Dio, but music that doesn't sound like a Dio clone. Very good CD. 'Old school' straight ahead heavy metal. No sub-genres needed to understand this music. Several instant classics on this CD.



Cons: Compared to the Astral Doors' next two albums, this may be the last one a newcomer to the band might want to buy, unless you're looking for the band's most Dio-sounding album. Some of the songs toward the middle of the album get to be formulaic and comparatively dull.



Conclusion: If you're biting your nails waiting around for the next Dio album, then pick this baby up and you'll be glad you did. Easy 4 star rating (excellent, but not essential like classics like Holy Diver)."