Review Summary: An album with a nice mix of several power metal styles, but one which doesn't quite make it as a great.
"Drama" is a word that the members of Celesty seem to swear by. "Speed" is another. Throw in a dash of
Nightwish-esque Orchestral & Choral arrangements, a fair helping of Power Metal cheese, cook for a while, and you get the resulting album - Vendetta. Sound like a good combination? Then read on.
At the time of recording, at least, Celesty were:
Antti Railio – Vocals
Teemu Koskela – Lead Guitar
Tapani Kangas – Rhythm Guitar
Jere Luokkamäki – Drums
Juha Mäenpää – Keyboards
Ari Katajamäki – Bass
The album opens with the
Prelude, a simple orchestral intro, which very smoothly moves into the first 'real' song on the album,
Euphoric Dream, which displays everything characteristic of this album - dramatic singing courtesy of Railio coupled with very fast, almost
Dragonforce-like guitars (both in solo and in the background), and a slick melody. Which is good.
My only gripe with tracks such as Euphoric Dream and Feared by Dawn is the choral singing. Don't get me wrong, it adds drama and fits in well with the song, but it would help if you could hear what was being sung.
The lyrics on this album are, as to be expected, very cheesy as is typical of such Power Metal bands. Examples include the track
Greed & Vanity, where you'll hear
"I'll lead your people against your reign, someday..." and
Like Warriors'
"The gods of power and might will defeat your knights..." Ugh. If you can get past that though, the songs are good.
Autumn Leaves follows the same style (there's a pattern here - they all follow it), and is a slower song about a lost love, which really works will with the keys & orchestra, and is one of the better songs on the album.
Fading Away, the second-to-last track, shows the best side of the band with the catchy chorus and excellent vocals.
The drumming, as to be expected from a Power Metal album, won't exactly blow you away, but they complement the songs well enough to stop them being grating or annoying. Railio's accented vocal style is pleasant to listen to.
Vendetta ends with a monster of a track, clocking in at just over 14 minutes.
Legacy of Hate, Pt. 3 runs a serious risk in that if it is merely plain, it can really make the album drag.
Blind Guardian have pulled this sort of song off before with
And Then There Was Silence..., and Celesty have made a valiant attempt at keeping the track interesting. Does it work? Without describing the song to you, minute-by-minute, yes. It starts off slow, and builds up to a speedier track, even showcasing some of Railio's screaming vocals, which aren't at all bad.
Whilst sifting through Power Metal to find, you get a lot of bland bands which you listen to, put down, and leave to rot on the shelf for a while. My concern is through the repetitive style of Celesty's songs, this album may end up being one of them. There aren't really any tracks (with the possible exception of the last, for obvious reasons) that I can say are much different to each other. If you like what you hear, that isn't much of a problem.
Overall, this isn't an album to convert people to Power Metal. If you're a fan of the genre, it's worth a try, and it definitely deserves more listeners that it appears to get.
Recommended Tracks:
Fading Away
Autumn Leaves
Legacy of Hate, Pt. 3
Like Warriors
