Holy Force – Holy Force

If Melodic Metal is your thing then you would possibly dig into this release, your typical melodic hooks are there, straight ahead power metal with the more me-tallish vocals...

 

 

 

 

 

Released by: Music Buy Mail

Release Date: September 13th, 2011

Genre: Melodic Metal

Links: http://www.holyforceband.com


Line Up:

Ango Chen – Guitars

Mark Boals – Vocals

Mike Lepond – Bass

Rhino – Drums


Tracklist:

01. Holy Force

02. Flying

03. Breathe

04. Seasons

05. A Country Good Or Bad

06. Power Of Life

07. Sky Etude

08. We Are The Warriors

09. Moonlight Fantasy

10. The Wings Of Forever

11. Chasing The Dream

12. Emperor

13. Waiting

14. See You In The Future


More metal projects head our way and in this case we have the collaboration from some key players from some notable bands like Symphony X, Yngwie Malmsteen and Manowar. Holy Force found by touted guitar player Ango Chen from Taiwan. I actually had not heard too much about him in the past, but apparently he has been involved in projects with the very talented Mike Vescera of ex Yngwie Malmsteen and Loudness vocalist. The very versatile Mark Boals takes the vocal helms, while Symphony X’s Mike Lepond takes over on bass.

If Melodic Metal is your thing then you would possibly dig into this release, your typical melodic hooks are there, straight ahead power metal with the more me-tallish vocals of Boals. Personally I like Mark in this more metal-esque style as opposed to other progressive stuff he has done in the past. The guitar talents of Chen are evident, but I was looking to see more from this guy since he created this band to begin with.

Luckily for me on the guitar solo intro of “Breathe” you hear some tight guitar licks that slithers it’s way to the very melodic approach of “Seasons” with a classic heavy metal groove; this track stands as one of the early highlights of the record. The fevered tempo pitch of “A Country Good Or Bad” plays like a bat out of hell with Boals hitting some high rising wails, and the super charged guitar riffs take control of the flames as they play towards a more speedy power metal approach.

Of course with the amount of tracks on this release 14, you will have some hit and miss stuff and this is case in some places, more boring straight ahead rockers like “Flying” and “Power Of Life” don’t add much other then your basic power metal dud. I do believe however that the more explosive parts is where this debut project really shines, elements of Symphony X come through on songs like “We Are The Warriors”, where the flying keyboards offer a nice trade off instead of a bunch of guitar wankery.

In the end I think we have a bit of a disjointed effort as the tracks run a bit too long in places, the repetitive power metal stamp on some songs make it a bit too much to take for me. This is one of those 50/50 records the production and the talent involved are all great and play with conviction, but the lyrics are on the weak end and the construction of the songs don’t come out as too epic. Maybe I expected a little more harmonizing and more layering in the music itself to catch my ear. Is not a bad effort because they’re are too many bands now a days that just sound the same in the genre, but Holy Force doesn’t do anything to disconnect themselves from this unfortunate stereotypical formula. I do however like to hear more from this project and here hoping they have some more music to see how they progress.

Written by Denys

Ratings Denys   6/10

About Author

 
Categories
Album Reviews
EXTREME’S UNMATCHED MUSICAL MASTERY AND ELECTRIFYING STAGE PRESENCE: A DEFINING FORCE IN ROCK HISTORY LIVE AT MARS MUSIC HALL, HUNTSVILLE, AL
EXTREME’S UNMATCHED MUSICAL MASTERY AND ELECTRIFYING STAGE PRESENCE: A DEFINING FORCE IN ROCK HISTORY LIVE AT MARS MUSIC HALL, HUNTSVILLE, AL

EXTREME’S UNMATCHED MUSICAL MASTERY AND ELECTRIFYING STAGE PRESENCE: A DEFINING FORCE IN ROCK HISTORY LIVE AT MARS MUSIC HALL, HUNTSVILLE, AL

Photo Credit: Myglobalmind

Imminence - The Black

AC/DC’s ‘Power Up Tour’ Breaks Records with 1.5 Million Tickets Sold in One Day!

Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition Review

Blessed Black – Seasons Vol.2 Review

Satch/Vai Tour Simply Sensational in Front of Sold Out Symphony Hall in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, March 27th, 2024

RELATED BY

G-TQ58R0YWZE