Released by: XIII Bis Records
Release Date: Out Now!!!
Genre: Progressive Metal
Links: http://www.myspace.com/manigance
Line Up:
Didier Delsaux – Chant
François Merle – Guitare
Bruno Ramos – Guitare
Marc Duffau – Basse
Daniel Pouylau – Batterie
Jean Lahargue – Claviers
Tracklist:
1. Aura
2. Larme de l’univers
3. Dernier allié
4. Mercenaire
5. L’ombre d’hier
6. Chant de bataille
7. Secret de l’âme
8. Récidiviste
9. Illusion
10. Sentier de la peur
11. Vertiges
12. En seigneur
13. Déserteur
14. Délivrance
15. Sans détour
For those of you who have serious interest in power metal, and are not driven off by non-English lyrics, Manigance should be a well known name already. The French band stormed the waters with their debut album Ange ou démon, which still keeps the No.1 spot for the best non-English sung power metal album ever released. And that was released way back in 2002 – ever since, the guys are coming up with new material irregularly, Récidive being their fourth studio album so far.
I’m not sure if this 5 years long gap since the last album was a good thing for the band though. This new material is certainly similar to the old Manigance sound – very melodic power metal with plenty of progressive innuendos and excellent vocals by Didier Delsaux.But it seems to be lacking few things – first one would be some tempo variety, as most of the time the tunes are comparable to old Kamelot albums, with lot of atmosphere but lacking any decent speed-ups. Funnily though, it feels like almost the opposite of what I wrote about Stargazery’s debut – this time it’s a power metal band that is unintentionally playing what could be considered some kind of hard rock music.
And the second problem would be length of the album. I mean, the musicianship and production are pretty much perfect in every way, but 78-minutes long album without any spark will bore the crap out of even the most hardcore power/prog fan. Personally I feel like I’ve heard everything this album has to offer within first 4-5 tracks, and the rest is just repetitive stuff. I suppose this is quite some disappointment by the band I used to like – an album made mostly of filler, where it’s obvious the band has written new material just for financial purposes, and not the music. Oh well…
Written by Eeepi
Ratings Eeepi 6/10
About Author
