A while ago I was hunting for some true, traditional heavy metal and found some good sounding bands in treasure troves of Cruz Del Sur Music and Secret Port Records. Argentinean Feanor's debut album 'Invencible' is one of the small gems I managed to dig up, and was released by the Greek label.

'Intro (Feanor's Oath)' is about this J.R.R. Tolkien's character from "The Silmarillion", where he swears an oath to destroy all who owns gems stolen from his father. With this album, Feanor the band claim some of the lost gems, but not all of them. The band was around nine years old when they released 'Invencible'. They had managed to wrote and hone some good songs during their existence, but the impression I get when listening to this is, that the passion of the guys was bigger than their skills. The drumming by the guest drummer is bouncy, not accurate. Another shortcoming is the vocalist, who sounds totally fervid, but in fact screams more than sings high notes. And his high shrieks, e.g. on 'Más Sangre', are pretty awful to listen to. He's backed by the band with metallic gang vocals, that lift up the mood a lot.

The title track is a fine piece of energetic and straight heavy metal, a perfect opener. 'Leviathan' is an epic multipartial beast, where the songsmith of the band glimmer, as well as on another epic, 'Feanor'. This brings me to the song structures; I like the band's style, because they don't do it typical "hit" arrangement way, but serve more chewing for a listener. Another good example of this is 'Mas Sangre', which includes a nice gentle acoustic part in the middle. Sadly, the album includes some fillers towards the end, and the worst example of this is boring 'Muy Lento Es Tu Sufrir'. However, the album closes in a fine way with another epic song, 'En Alas De Tempestad'. So, the vocals are in Spanish, which suits for me, although I don't understand a lot about the lyrics. It is just a new enough experience for me, even though there's a lot of metal bands singing in Spanish. Soundwise this is very organic, without any kind of polish. Some synths have been added, but they do not steal the show, just give a bit more depth. Video for 'Estrella Del Norte' is included, featuring some sword swinging and lusty women on stage, hehe.

Performancewise, 'Invencible' is an embodiment of passion, not skill (except for bass and guitars maybe). Some of the songs are absolute corkers, and this is where the passion play mandatory part. This make 'Invencible' a worthy try-out for those who are seeking for timeless heavy metal. Feanor offer true metal for true metal fanatics, other should stay away from this release. Not a must, but a nice little curiosity.

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
01/12/2008 21:44