2006-01-29
"As One" was released in 2003 and is, as titled, Metalium's forth album with the connection to the previous ones being a concept about a hero named "Metalian" battling some evil forces, quite a fantasy we have here; This time we have a female hero named "Metaliana" joining him.
Somehow this album managed to be overlooked, must have been buried under piles of other albums.
The vocals are suitable to the concept, meaning Henning Bass (ex-"Brainstorm" and "Powerslave") is joined by Japanese metal's uprising star Saeko Kiamae ("Metaliana") and a narrator ("The Metal God"), the deep voice of Stefan Schlabritz.
A change from their earlier material is slightly felt in "Pain Crawls in the Night" where Henning's vocals are lower than usual, perhaps influenced by Maiden's Dickinson.
"Find out" infuses the female vocals and has a more interesting bass line by Lars Ratz who also wrote the concept.
"Meaning of light" serves as an intro to "Illuminated (Opus One)" which has a slower tempo (it's quite an epic) and the splendid moog sounds by Don Airey (which is better known from working with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Whitesnake, Ozzy and many others), the main guitar solo (6:55) is somewhat of a highlight compared to the Matthias Lange's simple riffs throughout the album; this song continues into the 8th track, "Meaning of Light (Reprise)", where we get another exciting guitar solo.
"Athena" and "Power Strikes the Earth" get us back on track, beating fast and hard while "Screaming in Darkness" builds up slowly.
The highlight in this album is definitely the closing track (the title track) which has that metal anthem quality with a sweeping chorus that creates a strong finish.
To make a long story short, this self produced album is yet another step forward in power metal's revival and is the perfect introduction to the 2005 follower "Chapter V: Demons of Insanity".
Ofer Vayner
