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FALCONER– CHAPTERS FROM A VALE FORLORN
2002 Metal Blade
Swedish Power Metallers Falconer have followed up last year's now-classic debut album with CHAPTERS FROM A VALE FORLORN. This band is one the brightest new stars in the realm of Power Metal. One of the reasons the band is special is the singer, Mathias Blad. He is different from every other singer in Metal. I'm sure you've heard about him by now, so I'll say that either you'll love him, or you'll hate him. Personally, I think he's a breath of fresh air in the Power Metal world and enjoy listening to Falconer a lot because of him. However, I think he's capable of even greater vocal feats than we've heard him perform so far. He seems to be laid back in his vocal delivery, and I'm waiting for him to go for the throat. The rest of the band are no slackers, either. Stefan Weinerhall is a solid guitarist and bassist, and drummer Karsten Larsson has a distinctive style.

What struck me first as making CHAPTERS different from the first album was the higher prominence of the double bass drums, which gallop along mightily on tracks like "Decadence of Dignity," "For Life and Liberty" and "The Clarion Call." The first song on the album, "Decadence..." is defintely the best one. But there are some other great songs on here as well. For instance, the aforementioned "The Clarion Call" has one of the best choruses I've heard in a while. And the last song on the album, "Busted To The Floor," also boasts some great lyrics and a cool chorus. Extremely catchy stuff!

The band slows things down on "Lament of a Minstrel" and "We Sold Our Homesteads" which adds another dimension to the album. There is a ballad called "Portals of Light" which is decent.

The album cover is not as cool as the first ablum, but it's not too bad. The booklet is black and white on the inside, just like everything else Metal Blade releases. Nothing to get excited about. The only real complaint I have about the album is that there's only nine songs and it's about 40 minutes, short by today's standards. But I highly recommend this album anyway, it's nearly as good as the first. If you've never heard the band, I suggest you click the link below and listen to them.

DISCOGRAPHY:

FALCONER (2001) Metal Blade
CHAPTERS FROM A VALE FORLORN (2002) Metal Blade
Click here for link to the Metal Blade homepage and listen to Falconer!