Anduin the River

"Helvetic folk power metal" indeed! Excelsis are one of the few, proud bands that depart from the double-bass neoclassical inanity of other Euro fantasy-metal bands and carve out their own sound. While this album, their first, isn't the most impressive effort of theirs, it shows a promising band in the making.

Excelsis doesn't sound like most other Euro power metal bands; you won't find any gratuitous neoclassical shredding or a layer of keyboards so thick you could only cut it with a chainsaw. While none of the musicians are technically outstanding by themselves and Munggu's vocal style is an acquired taste if there ever was one (his vocals are a bit like a cross of early Blind Guardian and later Grave Digger, with a thick Swiss accent that somehow suits the music very well), but somehow the band brings everything together and puts out an album of good, catchy songs that never forget that they're METAL songs.

However, you can tell this is a debut album. The songs don't have that special punch that Excelsis captured on later efforts, and while the album has several good tracks it just doesn't have any classics like "Dragonslayer" or "Last Episode" from the band's later offerings. The album is very consistent in the respect that there's no complete stinkers on it, but at the same time, it doesn't have any tracks that jump out and grab you by the balls.

Excelsis would go on to improve in almost every area on later efforts, but this is still a pretty cool album for Excelsis fans.

Standout Tracks: Maiden in the Forbidden Garden, In The Highlands, Beneath the Hills, Houses of the Healing