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Avalanch > Llanto de un héroe > Reviews
Avalanch - Llanto de un héroe

Avalanch's epic rise to stardom. - 87%

maverickvkz, August 4th, 2008

Avalanch has been one of Spain’s most successful bands, and their music is well-known in Europe, Asia and Latin America. They reinvented the heavy metal scene in the late 90’s, because every album in their catalogue has a different personality. One reason is the constant line-up change that they have suffered throughout the years, but also the ambitious desire of Alberto Rionda (The band’s founder and guitar leader) to expand his music horizons. That’s why whenever somebody asks my opinion about Avalanch, I always divide their music into two extremely different eras that include the heavy/power metal era, (Which began with “La Llama Eterna” and ended with “El Angel Caído”) and the collage metal era, which is the current one. I nicknamed the second stage as “collage”, because Avalanch has explored many metal genres ever since, and that’s one of the reasons why I never compare or contrast any of their works.

Llanto de un héroe belongs to the heavy/power metal era of the band, and it was released two years after Avalanch’s debut album La llama eterna, which featured Juan Lozano on vocals, and although it was a pretty interesting debut album, it didn’t offer anything innovative to the heavy metal scene in Spain. However, Lozano later walked away from the band, and Víctor García (Warcry’s founder and singer) replaced him, proving that he is a much better and experienced singer, and his voice perfectly fitted with the musical direction that the band took by that time. In addition, García sounded awesome on his live shows, he had more presence onstage than the former front man, and this is the album that launched the band to stardom.

Avalanch’s second album is not only known for its power metal orientation. It also includes a series of epic passages with neoclassical guitar sparks, which are sealed inside here with extreme caution. Both guitarists work in great harmony, but sometimes they seem to test their own abilities to the limit, constantly battling to fire up the instrumental breaks when needed. They never try to be some kind of Alcatrazz or Michael Angelo Batio wannabe’s, but they inevitably appeared in a time when thousands of other Spaniard musicians decided to follow the same path that Rionda’s band was walking. “Llanto de un héroe” has similar sound structures of many other acts, such as Dragonslayer, Tierra Santa, and Adgar, among many others. The use of double bass drumming is present on 80% of the album, but Alberto Ardines, who is acknowledged as one of Spain’s most talented drummers, doesn’t let down anybody, because he gives an extra touch of his own magic to the record, and songs as Torquemada, Pelayo or Aquí Estaré unfold his most valuable techniques, and fuel the weak parts of the album. Keyboards are present in two of the three songs that I aforementioned, and in many other tracks as “¿Días de Gloria…?”, the title track “Llanto de un héroe”, and “No pidas que crea en ti”. You don’t need to worry, because the use of this instrument is worth to listen, and it only increases the mysticism of the stories that the album speaks about.

Meanwhile, García’s sharp falsettos surprise and make any metal newbie fall in love with the band, but when any experienced listener has a small taste of this record, the conclusion is totally different, since there are many other singers with similar abilities, such as Fortu Sánchez from Obús, Juan Gallardo from Angeles del Infierno, Leo Jiménez from Saratoga (Now in Stravaganzza), Pablo Solano from Dragonfly, or José Vicente Broseta from Opera Magna, and the list goes on and on. This doesn’t change the fact that Víctor García is one of the best singers that Spain has given to the world, and I have always believed that his performance in “Llanto de un héroe” has been his best one, not only of his tenure with Avalanch, but of his whole career, actually. He hasn’t surpassed on Warcry what he did here, and I’m sure he never will. Víctor gave a new life to Avalanch with his vocals, which get under your skin, because he transmits an inexplicable adrenaline, as well as his remarkable passion and devotion for what he does best. They definitely made the right choice when recruiting Mr. García to be the band’s new frontman, and no one ever thought the huge impact that this release would cause on the masses.

While the previous album “La llama eterna” mixed heavy and power metal, “Llanto de un héroe” focuses more on songs with a speed/power metal basis, and the sound quality has amazingly improved. The mistakes of the previous release have been fixed and so we always listen to a front-and-center García, while all the strings and drums sound crystal clean. The song writing area totally wins a higher score, where the lyrical themes involving Spaniard characters as “Mío Cid”, or “Don Pelayo” are present, as well as fake stories of ancient battles, with no cheesy elements, but more serious and believable than ever. Torquemada is Avalanch’s most famous song, which starts after an instrumental intro, and it’s been their most cheered anthem since it aired on radio. Don’t expect to listen to a masterpiece, because it’s just an average, yet catchy track, with the usual architecture of a power metal song, and long technical guitar breaks. It’s obvious that Víctor García overshadowed the band’s former singer only with the opener. Por mi libertad, Cid, and Aquí estaré have similar characteristics, so I won’t get in detail with them. Meanwhile, ¿Días de Gloria…? is way much different, and it’s more mid-paced, with an interesting constant change of tempos. The bass takes control of the song, and the lyrics, which beautifully link with the music rhythm, portray the gloomy life of a prisoner of war who is in his last minutes of life, just waiting to be executed. No pidas que crea en ti is one of those deceptive tracks, because although it starts with a mysterious keyboard ambient, it suddenly speeds up to become another nice power metal tune, with García’s voice at its peak. If you want something not so fast, but instead, more elaborated, then Cambaral will suit you very well, because although it’s fast-paced, it owns a haunting heavy metal essence, with progressive touches, while the guitar arrangements steal the show, and overall, you feel a constant melancholy surrounding the air.

There are two spectacular highlights in the album, which normally trap any listener. First of all, we have, what I consider to be one of the best ballads of all time, named Vientos del sur, How can I describe something as majestic as this? Well, it’s a sad song about a man who is saying goodbye to his love, and wishes the best for her life and future, and the lyrics are smartly written in metaphoric scenarios, which move the song away from the typical stereotype in which love songs usually fall. It starts with a piano solo, and very soft drum beats. Then, the guitar joins the show, while the keyboards provide an epic atmosphere, and then, Víctor García starts singing with such a feeling, that your heart can feel the pain that the main character is going through, and with the addition of lovely and appropriate shredding, it can make any weak soul cry.

Pelayo is my favourite song of the album, and as a worthy story about a legendary character, it carries mythic rides of virtuosity, and loads of instrumental creativity. The effort deposited by the musicians in this song is priceless. The drums and bass soar, while the guitars marvellously blend with García’s performance, which excels anything that you have heard of him. The song’s blazing chorus impregnates and definitely transcends space and time, because every time I listen to it, I leave aside what I’m doing, and start to sing along:

“Las montañas y el cielo tu fe moverán,
Santa tierra, por ella hoy debes luchar,
Dicen que fue una tormenta,
El cielo se abrió entre nieblas,
Las nubes quisieron ser piedras,
Entonces surgió la leyenda…”


The instrumental title track Llanto de un héroe gives an excellent closure to the album, and it defines what this material is all about. Most parts are built with riffs from many songs of the album, but they’re played in different tempos, and mixed with euphoric neoclassical guitar solos. The album’s intro is also efficiently played here by Rionda, who does an awesome job, shredding at the same level of any respected guitar virtuoso.

CONCLUSION: After three consecutive years of enjoying my ears with Llanto de un héroe, which was the first album that I heard of the band, my music criteria has grown way too much. If I had reviewed it two years ago, the score would’ve been higher, but today, my perception is totally different. That’s why I see this gem as an album that you can praise for its medieval atmosphere, epic war cries, catchy choruses, and high end vocals, which go far beyond the expected, among many other details. However, you can also furiously blast it for adopting many of the formulas used before by hundreds of bands all around the world, and sometimes you feel that the album becomes a little repetitive. Regardless of the issues, the album is not plain or creatively shallow as you may fear, but in the contrary, it’s one of Spain’s classic albums of the 90’s, and you shouldn’t miss it by any means. I never thought that I would be the first one to review Avalanch’s second album, but I strongly recommend it to everyone who enjoys this type of metal genre.

HIGHLIGHTS: “Torquemada”, “Pelayo”, “Vientos del Sur”, ¿Días de gloria…?, “Cambaral”.