We know that the label 'Frontiers Music' is very fond of creating supergroups with the latest find 'Ginevra' but for the album that interests us here, it's the label 'Metal Blades Records' which produces this new project which is a meeting between the progressive metal of the Americans of 'Fates Warning' featuring guitarist 'Jim Matheos' and bassist 'Joey Vera' and the AOR style of the English singer 'Steve Overland' whose various projects and participations in various albums are countless (among others to name only the latest chronicles of myprogmusic, 'White Spirit', 'Lonerider', 'FM' or 'Overland'), the fourth thief being none other than the eclectic drummer 'Simon Phillips' ('Toto', producer of 'Mike Oldfield', 'Derek Sherinian', 'Steve Hackett' or his jazz albums). Like what, musical encounters are full of surprises and this first album of the quartet is a clever mix between the style of each to make it a total success. Given the pedigree of each man, we suspected it a little, but it should be noted that in this case, the mayonnaise takes well and there is a real osmosis between all these artists.
We are welcomed by an energetic 'Wrecking Bell' which sets the tone of the album, and which marries melodic lines that we could find in 'FM' for example and a muscular style of guitar closer to ' Fates Warning' which makes it a very successful first composition. Normal will you tell me, and we continue with 'Humankind' in which the rhythm section 'Simon Phillips'/'Joey Vera' prints a rhythmic to unhook the head by dint of headbanging and in which 'Steve Overland' knows how to adapt his voice very well powerful with a muscular style, the guitar solo of 'Jim Matheos' being masterful. The suite continues in this atmosphere that takes us back to the 70s and to formations like 'Deep Purple', with swaying tempos like 'Sweet Revenge' which also brings variations of intensity used in progressive metal. We stay in very good melodic hard rock punctuated by sharp guitar riffs with 'Set the World on Fire' then, 'Too Far Gone' shows a calm first part allowing a first break in the album with an addictive melody that hardens the tone in a second part, 'Steve Overland' showing that it adapts perfectly to the intensity of the moment, the end returning to the quiet atmosphere of the beginning. The second part of the album continues to offer us this mix between catchy and melodic hard rock and progressive peregrinations: the very good 'Liberate Me' (see video above) with its fast tempo or 'Is It Right?' with its radiant choirs or even 'Your Life' which closes the album on a mid-tempo restarting the headbanging machine. And to vary the moods, 'Nowhere Man' is more oriented towards melodic AOR and the power ballad 'Everyday Angels' also shows a very endearing face with very beautiful vocal arrangements.
In summary, 'Kings of Mercia' is a magnificent mix between classic hard rock and a few peregrinations of progressive metal, the whole being accessible thanks to catchy melodic lines, which is what makes this first album, made of a heterogeneous assembly of talented artists, to an audience that loves melodic and energetic hard rock... | |
