Elwing, named after a character from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien (once again! Available characters must be ending soon...), hail from Greece. Their trade is, naturally, epic heavy metal. Compactly titled 'War' is their second album. So, it's all about war, not about love.

'War' starts well with heroic 'Marching to Glory', which sets the bar quite high indeed with its catchy, melodic attack. Generally Elwing operate in Greek heavy metal ('Sons of Revenge' is just that!) and Running Wild's style sonicscapes (take a listen to 'Fly Away'...), plus add more polished heroic feel with power metal elements. Vocalist is an interesting acquaintance; there's a lot of low-voiced gruff vocals, backed by high clean vocals, plus a lot of choirs. Not the best voice in metal, but an interesting one for this kind of metal. In one word: Fresh! 'At the Gates' is a darker excursion, with nicely different chorus from typical power/heavy metal stuff heard all the time. But then comes 'I'll Live Forever' and the quality starts to deteriorate a bit. It's a plain version of the opener, although admittedly with some nice riffage reminding of Amon Amarth. However, there's not so much happening on many great Amon Amarth songs either, is it?! 'War' is a pointless instrumental, as basically it's just same stuff you'll hear here with vocals! 'Blood on My Hands' is a slow song, but not a ballad, and raises the album back on the right track with good vocals and touchy melodiousness. The album's second instrumental, epic 'Armageddon', works nicely as an intro to 'Lost Humanity', which closes the album with style.

The album sounds clean, but could be more punchy, especially the drums. I like how the bass sounds, and there's enough airiness in guitars to grant them an epic tone. The flat drums kind of shatter the epic feeling of the album, which would otherwise work. Oh yeah, and guitar solos deserve to be mentioned, there's many well composed solos here.

The album felt boring at first (mostly listened to at the same time as doing something else, which isn't the right way, is it???), but when I truly got into it, it started to show its potential. Elwing have managed to do it a bit different from the usual heavy/power metal style, so points to them. They do possess character, which is something out of usual nowadays, too, and potential, but I feel that their whole armada might not be operational just yet. The song material isn't that strong, that it will knock you off your feet, as there's nothing new on offer. That's why Elwing are easily over-shadowed by the greatest.

Rating: 7- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
01/21/2008 20:03