Tales Of The Old are Greek newcomers performing symphonic metal. This Athenian quartet return with their second release, 'The Passageway from Hell to Earth' EP. Their debuting demo from 2010, 'Beware', seems to be lost under the sands of time, so it's impossible to compare the two.

Tales Of The Old's lyrical themes come from Medieval stories. Now, it's important that have the band been able to create dramatic, storytelling music. The vocal department is highly theatrical. Guesting soprano vocalist Andoniki Skoula of Chaostar steals the show with her powerful voice and charisma, to tell the truth. She has the gift of acting. The male vocals are varying, as there's clean power metal singing, both calmer and more severe. A bit like ex-at Vance and now Candlemass guy Mats Levén. Then there's Dani Filth (Cradle Of Filth) style goblin/whatever small, evil fellow vocals (if you can call Vlad The Impaler a small bad guy, but it sounds too much like that anyways). He simply hasn't got enough chances or time to show his clean vocal stuff here. However, a choir of children was a massively good idea, as can be heard on the opener 'Dark Witch'. The choir lifts the atmosphere through the roof! Sadly, the lyrics are absent, but at least two first songs' fables should be easily figured out.

The songs have quite many turns in them, when thinking how long they are. Tales Of The Old couple symphonic music with power metal, ending up sounding something like in the middle of a triangle consisting of Symphony X, Kamelot and Rhapsody. Yes, the band have that Greek aura shining over them, that is rather quintessential for many a band from there. A lot of nimble-fingered guitar playing, versatile synthesizer work (not to forget the duet between guitar and synthesizer...), tripping bass guitar, drumming going from slower beats to fast double kick drum beats and even close to blasting. And surely, it has a progressive edge to it at times. So, some parts are calm, others are fierce, just what every story needs. The symphonic elements are evident in the songwriting and in playing, but there is no huge artificial orchestra samples utilized, gladly.

The Bob Katsionis production is quite good. The bass guitar might be a bit tough to be heard at times, resulting from the filled soundscape. This is also loud, as it should be, after all it's metal music. It's packed in a nifty digipak, but still I wanted the lyrics. The twisty songs could, and probably would, be so much easier to get into with the lyrics.

Tales Of The Old's music should be inspected by those, who enjoy listening to dramatic power metal, or then just dramatic metal music generally. 'The Passageway from Hell to Earth' is only 12 minutes in length, but contains a lot to find and digest. I also find it reasonably characteristic, so the next offer might be a full length album. With these evidences, it really should.

Rating: 7- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
05/07/2013 21:36