Search - Human Fortress :: Lord of Earth & Heavens Heir

(2.5 stars) Good Musical Competence, Average Songwriting

S. Morales | Levittown, NY United States | 06/29/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Oh My God! An overhyped mediocre CD given a plethora of easy 5 star reviews?! Not on Amazon... NEVER!

Yes, my friends, here we have another overrated album which I don't hate, but don't really like either. Human Fortress's first album is a good intro to a competent band, but compared to all the other great power metal material, this CD just feels disposable. Let me try to explain why.

Human Fortress isn't the most original band in the world, mostly taking elements from such classic 80's bands like Iron Maiden and Dokken, with modern production and musical flares, but that is easily overlooked if you're an open-minded person. There are no epic symphonies or orchestras so all Rhapsody fans might not find it so interesting. I personally just want something that rocks, given if it is or isn't 100% original. Their guitar riffs are clean, and razorsharp w/ lots of guitar lick/lead use, unlike the thick power chord oriented type of sound from bands such as DreamEvil and Hammerfall. Vocals are clean, melodic, range testing and influence from vocalists like Bruce Dickenson are easily apparent. Songs are average length from about 4-6 minutes long. The main problem w/ this CD that I had was the mediocre and weak songwriting with most, not all songs.

We start on track 1 "Dragon's Lair" with lyrics about just that, there's moderatly fast basic guitar riffs and it's a good track due to its pitch shifts in vocals; a catchy, enjoyable song. Track 2 "Under Black age Toil" slows down a bit and has a chorus that i can see could be good for some, but to me just sounds too sensitive and cheesy (but when I'm in the mood I listen to it anyway cause it is a good song overall), and also very basic, like it could be on some cheesy made for TV movie soundtrack - a mood song.

Now on the third track is where this CD gets better, the song is great, and has a metal-horns-in-the-air feel that just grabs you during the chorus and one can't help but sing along to it; it has a great ending which slows down significantly giving way to what sounds like a melancholy and enchanting sitar followed by power chords and some fantasy dialogue, definitly the best song on the record (I have the chorus stuck in my head as I write this). The track also has good use of groovy and melodic keyboard work during the verses, which tend to give me a spacey feeling and hum later on. The fun continues on Track 4 "Divine Astronomy" in which the songwriting isn't as unpredictable and depthful as the last song, but the chorus is catchy and it's shifting in vocals tone and pitch make it a catchy and memorable track.

Things sink once again on track 5 who's chorus is just draggy and boring, and typical verses which just don't add anything new to the table. The track 6 instrumental is a one minute filler, and such a filler if I've ever heard one; simply a piano and guitar lick that repeats and bores. Track 7, "Amberdawn" - another mediocre song w/ a draggy chorus, nuff said. The ballad "Forgive and Forget" follows and is a lot slower than most power metal album ballads, it's simply a slow piano melody with a good verse and better chorus when the symphonics are introduced. Very melancholy and good (although it COULD be better). Track 9 - typical power metal song w/ yet another draggy chorus, overall not very interesting. Following this is a decent enough song w/ an ok chorus that some might find interesting, or maybe I'm just digging too deep to find good things to say about this album. The ending track is ok, and ends well with a guitar solo and good riff in the background, but the beef of the song isn't as interesting and is only good every once in a while, on top of that, the guitars were just too weak sounding, it was almost like they tuned down the bass knobs.

Overall, I found about 4 songs on this 11 track album to really be worth listening to, and 2 out of 4 worth owning. Most of the 2.5 star score is given b/c these guys can indeed play their intstruments well, but they need more time to really find themselves and write better and more interesting songs. This album has "learning debut" splattered all over it, but given time, I'm almost positive these guys will get better w/ upcoming material; because the potential these musicians show on this album is indeed great. But in the end, with this album, you'll be telling yourself that there's better stuff out there. Usually when I listen to it I never get past the first 4 songs, if that."

Pretty Impressive Debut

sauronthegreat | Pittsburgh, PA | 08/03/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You know, power metal is a funny thing...it seemingly is the genre of metal that most exemplifies the spirit of metal. Crunching riffs, agressive yet melody-laden. Fast songs that have you soaring through the skies and other songs that enhance a particular mood. Yet, power metal can also be very cheesy and overdone.So, Human Fortress is a new player on the "epic power metal" scene. Whatever. I love Blind Guardian, Helloween, Stratovarius, Symphony X, Sonata Arctica, and Kamelot. Why? Because they are power metal bands? No...because they all write GOOD, MEMORABLE SONGS. That, my friends, is an art that only 10% of the bands ever harness. You can now add Human Fortress to that list.I don't remember the band members' names, so forgive me. The album starts off with the driving, mid-tempo "Dragon's Lair", and you know right-away what Human Fortress is all about. Their guitar sound isn't really like any other band I've heard before so I can't say they sound like anybody, which is good. The singer is a bit awkward at times with the word-pronunciation, but I'm pretty certain that English is not his native tongue - so this is forgivable. He has a solid voice that can hit the lower-gruff-type ranges as well as the higher-pitched levels without sounding annoying. His ability to put memorable vocal harmonies to the pounding riffs is impressive in such a young vocalist (see "Under Black Age Toil"). The riffs are pretty darn good here. Riffs to me are the soul of the song, its foundation. "Divine Astronomy" is a speedier double-bass onslaught that is one of the few songs I've ever heard that captures the spirit of Keeper-era Helloween. The choruses tend to be the peaks of the song as a lot of thought and emotion is put into them. This is a good ingredient in a memorable song. Of course, there a couple of ballad-like songs which I tend to find boring but they're not all that bad. "Damned to Bedlam" and "Light Beyond Horizon" showcase the bands ability to drive the metal machine in a straight-forward no-frills fashion, while "Amberdawn" and the title track show the band's impressive hand at dabbling in the progressive elements. For a debut album that almost unheard of.The bottom line is this. These are good songs. Songs that you don't have to listen to 20 times to get into. They are not cheesy either (except for the spoken narrative in "Damned to Bedlam"...come on guys!!!). The riffs are heavy and melodious. As someone who is pretty critical about what he listens to, I would recommend this album to fans of metal. Period.I am very much anticipating the bands 2nd effort, which hopefully isn't too far away."

Near-perfect epic metal classic

Eriban | CA, USA | 09/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Lord of Earth and Heavens Heir" is a tremendous debut album from up-and-coming German metallers "Human Fortress". Frontman Jioti Parcharidis has a powerful voice that can soar high and clear while still maintaining a melodic and charismatic mid-range. I have heard him compared to Don Dokken in his heyday (such as on Dokken's excellent vocals on "Kiss of Death"), but Parcharidis is this and more. The guitar work isn't as aggressive or seeringly powerful as a few of the other epic metal bands like "Dream Evil", but the music is melodic and catchy and the solos are decent... and as the band enjoys pointing out, very technically precise... this is a studio album that is highly polished and there are no mistakes. Of very important note is Dirk Marquardt's keyboarding work on the album... the keyboard music and effects accentuate and enhance nearly every song to such an extent as I have not heard in the past from a great metal band... songs such as "The Dragon's Lair" are made infinitely more interesting and powerful with the inclusion of this skilled keyboarding work, which lends a very epic quality to the album. This comes in part from the fact that both Parcharidis and Marquardt are both film score fans, and some of the best film scores integrate epic themes, a lesson not lost upon Human Fortress.The bass and drumming are very solid, and while the album integrates a variety of metal styles, from true metal to power metal, the power metal songs proceed at a decent percussive pace, which is highly refreshing. Many other power metal bands (cough, DRAGONFORCE, *ahem*!!) need to learn that drumming need not proceed at such a superhuman pace that it drives the guitars and the singing into insanity and therefore ruins what could otherwise be a perfectly good song. Human Fortress does not make that mistake, and in fact, many of their songs proceed at more of a mid-tempo pace, which is, in my opinion, the best pace to play a good metal song anyway. So, with that being said, Human Fortress is a very talented band, and I HIGHLY anticipate the American release date for their new album, "Defenders of the Crown". In the meantime, the best songs on this album are "The Dragon's Lair", "Under Black Age Toil", "Lord of Earth and Heavens Heir", "Amberdawn", and "Light Beyond Horizon". It must also be noted that "Forgive and Forget" is a touching ballad that makes outstanding use of piano melodies as well as orchestral elements. If the string and woodwind pieces on this album are synthesized and not real, then this is probably one of the BEST uses of synthesized material I have ever heard.To sum things up, if you enjoy epic metal (including the fantasy-based themes that some metal fans don't necessarily like), then look no further than Human Fortress and this album. These guys are one of the best metal acts to come out of Europe and they simply ROCK."