Their last album 'A New Dawn Ending' already dates from 2014 and the Italians of ‘Ancient Bards' took more than 4 years to release its successor 'Origine' which is the following of their saga started with ‘The Alliance of the Kings’ in 2010. In spite of all this time, the recipe is still well-honed with symphonic power metal telling stories drawn from legends in an epic, powerful and melodic style. But the great strength of the Italians is that, unlike certain groups of the genre that use and abuse a little too much of the double pedal which can lead to saturation, the latter opus, brings a certain variety inside the compositions with structures more sought after and with variations in the rhythm section that are welcome. Even the fastest titles like 'Impious Dystopia' or 'Titanism' have slower parts with the use of grandiose choruses. We can also note titles mixing power and romantic like 'Fantasy's Wings', 'Aureum Legacy' or 'Oscurità' and, of course, they do not forget the ballads with 'Light' placed at the end of the first part of album. But the highlight of the album is of course the last title of almost 15 minutes 'The Great Divide' which is an epic fresco where the Italians deploy all their expertise and put all the ingredients of a flamboyant symphonic power metal as they have done in the past with 'A New Dawn Ending' or 'Hope Dies Last'. In summary, with 'Origine', 'Ancient Bards' still offers us a flawless album that puts them back on the front of the stage and should appeal to all those who are fans of epic and symphonic metal... | |
