Released By : Self-Released
Genre : Epic Power Metal
Link : http://www.braveride.com/
Lineup:
Marios Christakis – Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Tracklist:
01. At The Village
02. A Place Of Shadows
03. Heroe’s Ode
04. Ruins Of Distaster
05. At Enemie’s Borders
06. For The Fallen
07. Shiffles The Griffin
08. Dragonrider
09. At Peace Of Peace
10. The Great Mountain
As a metal buying public, we have been spoilt for choice over the last few years as far as sword & sorcery based Power Metal is concerned. For us this is good thing as we always find a gem here and there, but for the bands themselves this mass of variety isn’t such a positive thing. What it has meant is that unless you are releasing top-shelf material you will never get near the top of pack and you will forever fight among the rest of the also-rans, vying for attention and recognition. Unfortunately this is really were I see BRAVERIDE sitting right at the moment. Their blend of MANOWAR-esque epicness and a more mid-paced Folk-Metal feel offers up enough to spark my interest slightly, but the execution isn’t quite there enough t keep my attention for long enough.
I did genuinely enjoy tracks like DRAGONRIDER and A PLACE OF SHADOWS and alsow while were at the the folky-est song of the album HEROE’S ODE offers plenty too. As a fan of fantasy fiction I really did enjoy the lyrical elements here and was truly invested in some f the better written tracks on the album. The vocals never quite live up to the lyrics unfortunately though and while they are serviceable, they lack any wow factor or anything to give them an edge compared to the other dozens of similar bands around at the moment. Actually the songwritng itself shares the same fate in a way, with a very similar feel across the entire album without the ebbs and flows that you would usually expect from any album waving the epic-metal flag.
That’s a good way to sum up this entire album actually…. RISE OF THE DRAGONRIDER does a lot of things right, and also a few things quite well, but the overall package suffers because there just isn’t anything here that will wow people and the entire album just feels like it was done by a band that has all of the tools but don’t know to make good use of them.
Written By ZeeZee