Search - White Skull :: Tales From North

Power Metal Masterpiece

C. Cook | Florida | 04/13/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tales from the North is one of the best power metal cd's I've ever heard, and one of the best period. I love the whole viking concept theme, and look forward to their next cd, which is based on the ancient Roman empire. The band does an excellent job of writing inspiring stories about Odin, Asgard, Valhalla and plenty of other gods and places from Norse mythology. One minor complaint, however, is that a number of the songs seem to have a very similar structure, starting out with a fast trilling guitar rhythm and continuing that into a standard hymn-like power metal chorus. However, it works so who am I to complain.As I mentioned before, the chorus's are like most power metal chorus's, with whole choirs of voices singing behind the singer to give it an epic, spine-tingling effect, and it works particularly well with these songs. The singer, Frederica, should also be pointed out. Her voice isn't quite the clean style of singing used by most power vocalists, nor is it the growling used by alot of death vocalists; it's somewhere in between. And it gives it a unique touch, distancing White Skull from other female-fronted bands like Nightwish and Theatre of Tragedy.My favorite tracks are probably the first three (not counting the intro), "Tales from the North", "Asgard", and "Gods of the Sea", as well as "The Killing Queen". However, they are all superb songs, and the intro and outro are also well done. I hope this band keeps up the good work, as they're one of the most talented units I have heard in a while."

Overall, and enjoyable effort.

Julian R Kelley | Oakland, TN United States | 04/15/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First, let me say that the musicianship on this record is great from the opening instrumental (The Quest)to the "outro" (Still Alive). The songwriting and the Nordic theme are also adequately cool, especially for those of us that are into the whole prog metal thing. However, the vocals of Federica "Sister" de Boni are less accessible. Her growling delivery of her own lyrics, along with her thick accent, combine to make the words nearly unintellegible (Thank God for linear notes).But, be that as it may, this is a good, solid prog metal cd. Just not for singing along with."

Federica Rules!

Matthew Z. Coombs | San Diego, CA United States | 05/21/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the third of what ended up being 4 White Skull releases using female vocalist Federica De Boni. To be quite frank the first two releases "I Won't Burn Alone" and "Embittered" were fairly pedestrian. Standard heavy metal done in an average way. That said, the two final releases using Federica, that being "Tales From The North" and "Public Glory, Secret Agony" are simply outstanding.



Normally, I find female heavy metal singers to be terrible. Not the Gothic opera metal ones, just the heavy metal ones. We had Doro who was O.K. but the rest in heavy metal history have all sucked. Federica is the first female heavy metal singer to blow me away. She has a unique delivery. One of the negative reviews says she is singing like she is clenching her teeth or something and he is telling the truth. On the other hand I 1000% disagree that it is a bad thing. I guess when you do something unique you get the love/hate reaction which is normal.



Tales From The North is an epic power metal album and it even has Chris from Grave Digger singing duet with Federica on two of the tracks. An interesting pairing since they sing in the same, gutteral, not quite death metal style. I'm a fan of Chris but to be quite frank Federica dusts him into the weeds. I just love her singing so much. It's similar to Chris but a bit more melodic and versitile.



Listen before you purchase because the vocal style is unique but you may find yourself a real gem with this one.



For the record, I personally like Public Glory, Secret Agony even better if just by a little bit.



Note: After Public Glory, Secret Agony the Federica left the band and the band got a male singer.



Matt The Pirate"