Where Mankind Fails

History is the manifestation of man's collective memory, and in the particular case of metal and its ongoing cultural growth, the means by which we derive our present identity as we forge ahead into the future. For power metal, though the earliest exploits of Helloween are often remembered as the catalyst that birthed the melodic, speed-based variant in Europe, the awe-inspiring accomplishments that said band and a few other German pioneers put forth between 1985 and 1989 did not see their full fruits ripen until a bit later when metal was in the proverbial wilderness. Though the eventual second wave of European power metal would not hit until the latter half of the 1990s, the seeds had already begun to germinate circa the early 90s with the beginnings of a new Swedish scene within the nascent melodic death metal phenomenon, culminating in a varied collection of exemplary albums in the later 90s by the likes of Nocturnal Rites, Freternia, Crystal Eyes, Hammerfall, The Storyteller, Persuader and the lesser known yet highly riveting Steel Attack debut Where Mankind Fails.

In full conformity to the raw intensity that was commonplace at the close of the millennium, the approach at work here is based in the speed and melodic pomp of Helloween, yet also graced with the grittier heavy metal based aggression of Running Wild and Saxon. In the context of the Swedish scene of the day, it walks the line between the arena-oriented fanfare of Hammerfall and the more nimble and harder-edged character of Freternia, the latter having about as much in common with maddened Blind Guardian emulators Persuader as with the consonant and melodic gloss of Stratovarius. It's a mostly guitar-based approach that heavily incorporates the hook-driven one typical to Iron Maiden (hence the affinity that a number of Swedish power metal bands held with their melodeath counterparts), with a somewhat more technical lead display courtesy of the newly recruited (at the time) shredder John Allan Forssén, who takes a wild technical approach that is shorter in scope than what Dragonforce would popularize a few years later, yet heavily similar in demeanor.

The points of contrast that separate this album from many of its contemporaries is how the songwriting all but perfectly caters to the strength of the guitar work, maximizing the effectiveness of the whole while avoiding the tendency of turning things into a battle for the spotlight. Vocalist and bassist Steve Steel (Stefan Westerberg) takes a powerful yet measured approach to the prototypical power metal front man, keeping his bass work largely in the support-role vain of Ian Hill, while emulating the strong yet generally humble melodic wail of Joacim Cans with maybe a dash of Eric Adams-styled grittiness, but minus the glass-shattering shrieks and plus some brilliant harmonized gang passages during various chorus segments. The kit work of Andreas de Vera is fairly fancy, but avoids over-indulgence and smoothly shifts the pace of each song masterfully and with a pristine thud. Keyboards are employed occasionally, usually to add to the atmosphere, but on the less than subtle instrumental homage to Swedish guitar master Yngwie Malmsteen "The Furious Spirit Of Death" takes on a lead role comparable to Jens Johansson's handiwork.

The combination of melodic pomp and speeding brilliance manifests itself in some truly fantastic songwriting, bridging the divide between the early territory explored on Helloween's Walls Of Jericho and Keepers albums with the more earlier 80s traditionalism and gritty speed metal tendencies of many Swedish revivalist acts. The intensity level of mad blazers like "Dragon's Skull", "Heading For The Lair" and closer "Forgotten Land" is a bit higher than the speeding fringes of Hammerfall's Glory To The Brave and Legacy Of Kings, but has a similar sing-along vibe and presents what can be best described as a heavier variant of what often graced Crystal Eyes' World Of Black And Silver. Things move a bit closer to concurrent Hammerfall territory with more slow-paced crushers like "Village Of Agabha" and "Thunder Knight", both mirroring that signature groove first established by Sabbath's "Heaven And Hell", and in the latter song's case, comes with a similar fast paced conclusion. However, the band reaches its zenith with the 13 minutes plus epic metallic celebration "The Tragic Kingdom" (separated into 2 parts) and the nuanced, more keyboard-oriented grower "Island Of Gods".

The truly great albums that rounded out the high period of the European power metal revival were generally two-fold affirmations of stylistic consistency and varied songwriting, and this astounding debut out of Steel Attack is no exception. It is a testament to the combined effort of many bands across Europe that managed to pull the old ways of metal out of the crater that they had been tossed into in the earlier part of the decade, and did so without becoming a full on throwback to the 80s. Many of the old cliches that typified said decade are present, but are accompanied by a renewed sense of adventure that was touched upon with albums like the oft mentioned Helloween efforts, yet not fully exploited given said albums' close proximity to the eventual downturn of heavy metal significance in popular culture. Overall, it exemplifies the youthful, rebellious spirit that was all over the late 90s power metal scene, and in the particular case of Steel Attack, would culminate in their greatest studio effort to date.

A new and rising power metal band? This to many people would be a problem because power metal has defiantly taken a few hits over the past few years. Bands have fallen pray to the “power n roll” epidemic that’s spreading like the plague, so it’s difficult to find good power metal these days. Well, I decided to check out Steel Attack out of curiosity. I never really heard much about them, except they’re in the power metal genre. With the name Steel Attack, I figured some cheesiness would be present here, and I was correct. Luckily it’s not overpowering like Rhapsody of Fire or Iron Fire. This works here. Keyboards are also present here; Petri Kuusisto is a great player. In songs like “Island of the Gods” he pulls off an amazing solo. It’s not completely overpowering, which is nice in modern metal these days because the keyboards are sometimes louder than the guitars!

The songs here in general are typical of the genre. Big and catchy chorus, songs about swords and quests, and an album cover with a man fighting a dragon. All joking aside, this album is solid. The vocals from Steve Steel are sub-par, really nothing that special. His bass playing is good here, although it’s a little tough to here do to the production. He does a nice job on the album. Dennis Vestman and John Allan Forssén are a great guitar combo here. They play with passion and can pull off some cool riffs and solos. The drumming from Andreas De Vera is nothing special. He does his job here.

The line up here is solid, now the songs themselves a good, but nothing spectacular. You’ll find yourself asking for more. The tracks are structured well, but were looking for that stand out track and I just couldn’t find one. The instrumental “The Furious Spirit of Death” the only real stand out track to me.

Overall, this is a good release. For power metal freaks, this is another band to add to your collection. Otherwise, be careful with this one.

With so many power metal bands on the rise, the main sound that makes power metal tends to get overused. And so a new power metal band follows in this main scheme, but it usually doesn't work out. One of the main complaints from people is that "It sounds all the same." Steel Attacks debut album Where Mankind Fails came out in 1999, so in a way they are new to the power metal scene. But Steel Attack manages to make their sound enjoyable because it differs slightly from original power metal.

Lets get down to the music. The riffs scream on this album. Usual power metal straight riffing is hardly scene on this album. This means that the riffs are pretty technical, and damn are they fast. Let's take the intro riff to Heading For the Lair; pretty decent riff, but it manages sure speed like old Blind Guardian. On every song there is a enjoyable riff, and a lot of impressive solos and licks to go around.

This leads to one thing -there is power and structure in the songs. The guitars, along with the bass and drumming, gives the songs on this album harmony and melody. Without this essence Steel Attack would be just another cheesy power metal band. Drumming is really important on this album also because the songs switch tempos fairly often. Lets look at the singing for a moment. The singing is well done, but nothing special. His accent is present, but this is not a problem at all. He doesn't try to go high, which would fit the mold for a "typical" power metal band. Besides the main vocals, there are a lot of back-up vocals on this album. The backups are usually high toned, and adds flavor to the songs.

Occasionally there is a keyboard solo, but not overdone on this album. That does not put this album as not moving (or slightly ambient) however. The song The Furious Spirit of Death shows that this power metal band can incorporate emotion into their song writing. If you think all power metal bands have become the same, meaning their sound is so close you can't distinguish between them, Steel Attack is not favored in this case. Their songs have meaning, the guitar riffs and licks are great, and it overall packs a punch. Its like old-Blind Guardian mixed with DragonForce. It doesn't get any better than this folks!

Raw Power Metal from Sweden. These guys loved Maiden and Accept you can tell...or at least I can. Anyway this album is fucking awesome. Probably some of the rawest most aggressive true metal that you will hear now a days. These guys are almost thrash aggressive, like Paradox or Agent Steel. I should correct myself for my previous statement, this is awesome speed metal. I think that more accurately describes it. Anyway on to the music!

Dragon's Skull: I remember when I first bought this album. I will admit it I only liked really really melodic pus...power metal. So I didnt really like this as much, there were a few songs I thought had good riffs, but I didnt really listen. Then along came a little thing called thrash. It opened my eyes and now I see why this album is so awesome. The opening lead is nintendo all the way, I cry from joy whenever I hear the riff and lead. And Dick Steele's vocals are great. he's not your typical eunic power metal singer, he's a little lower pitched and he has that Eric Adams tough guy sound that is a little comic book like, but thats why its so awesome. And the lyrics don't rhyme...now thats fucking metal. The lyrics just tell a story...thats how I like it. So yeah this song pretty much kicks all the ass required to make it a fucking heavy metal song.

Where Mankind Fails: "Sit down and listen I''m going to tell you about a place." Oh please do Mr. Steele. My god, they are relentless. So you're being clever and trying to take a water break with the few seconds you have in between songs. You fool, Steel Attack anticipated this. They give you some more perfect metal to chew on just to spite you. Right away you notice that these guys probably like Helloween a lot too, but I get the feeling it was Walls of Jericho Helloween. And lemme say this song should make Kai Hansen proud, because he has been surpassed in all things metal. This song should make even the most nonbelieving extreme metal fan a reason to respect them. No cookie cutter riffs or melodies here. THe vocals are simply brilliant especially at the end of the song...oh man. The 70's style vocals at the end are better than anything you've ever done. They sound like a group of battle heardened warriors singing lament of their fallen friends, and of humanity...because they will never ever learn. The chorus helps with that. Its written in broken english and its lamenting mankind. WHoever wrote the lyrics must be a barbarian at heart. When a song makes me write my own glorious accounts of valor...then I know its a good one.

Island of the Gods: Here we go again. Man this time they're trying to pound you into the dust with maces. This song reminds me of Accept, and "Pounding Metal" by Exciter. Its got that anvil beat to it. Another great song with great vocals and a fucking killer solo section. They do soo much down picking on that song that myself being a thrasher, give them all the metal cred they so deserve. Goddamn and the solos the solos the solos. The guy shreds...but its not wankery, there is always some underlying melody or lead...except for the chaos solos. I call them that because the riffs get really dissident and he just goes nuts. Awesome.

This review is already long so I'll make the rest quick. Heading for the lair...awesome..Village of Agahaba greatest lead in the intro....brilliant. The whole album slays except for the Instrumental...there's a wee bit of wankery in there so I took 5 points off their score. But still a technically proficient peace...that does kick ass as well.

This is a pretty good debut album . . . and it shows that Steel Attack hasn't really changed all that much since they first began playing hyperfast Power Metal.

As with all Steel Attack albums, the important instruments here are the guitars. The riffage is fucking unbelievable, and song after song is filled with catchy and timeless riffsets and melody lines. The shredding is incredibly fast and powerful and everything about these guitars is just impressive beyond words. Less important but still crucial to this band's success are the drums, which are very well-played and allow for some serious headbanging in the songs. Also of note is the bass, which is played quite well and always has a fair amount of presence in the mix. The least important part of the band, as always, is the vocalist, although he is more important in this particular album than he is in Fall into Madness (but not as important as in Predator of the Empire). Overall, everything is done very well and this band is technically very sound.

Highlights. Songs with extremely cool opening riffs include the title track, Heading for the Lair, The Awakening and Thunder Night, while the best headbanging songs are Island of Gods and The Furious Spirit of Death. All of the songs are pretty solid on here--there are no real throwaways.

Power Metal fans who like it fast as hell will certainly appreciate this album. It's an excellent Steel Attack release.