Stargate

In the 90s Sweden was a fertile land for neoclassical metal, the metal subgenre based on a combination of hard rock, speed metal and baroque music popularized by Swedish guitar wizard Yngwie Malmsteen, who himself found inspiration in the songwriting of Ritchie Blackmore and his brainchild Rainbow. Guided by guitarist Thomas Wolf, Stormwind follow in the footsteps of the aforementioned six-string heroes. At the time of their second LP Stargate, the band was by and large a Thomas Wolf’s solo project, which is also reflected in their moniker (“Thomas Wolf’s Stormwind”). The guitarist is here aided by a score of different musicians, including Europe’s drummer Ian Haugland, keyboardist Per Hallman and bass player Kristofer Eng (who will later both play in prog rock outfit Brighteye Brison), and singer Angelica Häggström.

The presence of a female vocalist is probably the main element of novelty and interest in this album, since this is an unusual choice for neoclassical metal bands. The music on Stargate is otherwise a competent but fairly ordinary take on Rainbow’s hard rock / melodic metal style, with generous helpings of virtuoso’s showmanship that would have made Malmsteen proud. The guitar takes of course centre stage in the album’s twelve songs, where Wolf showcases a barrage of techniques, from standard hard rock riffs, to power chords, to leads inspired by typical baroque runs, to two-part guitar harmonies, and plenty of technical solos too. The keyboards mostly feature in a supplementary role, playing chords to add to the songs’ texture, and, in a couple of occasions, engaging in “solo duels” with Wolf’s guitars. Rhythmically, things are not particularly adventurous as per the genre’s standard. The drums mostly keep a straight rock tempo that does not vary much in the course of a song. Kristofer Eng’s bass playing is instead bolder, with lots of small solos and grooves that do not fail to capture the ear. The songs alternate between epic and majestic mid-tempos and faster, more aggressive numbers, in classic Rainbow/Malmsteen’s style, with a lean and focused songwriting that is centred on the repetition of verse/chorus plus the obligatory solo intermezzos.

What distinguishes Stargate from most other albums in this style is Angelica Häggström’s performance. Her voice is a cross between Ronnie James Dio and Janis Joplin, if you can imagine how that may sound. She packs a nice vibrato, tons of husky character, and power too. She can rip and roar in the most aggressive songs (“Hit by the Sun”; “Aliens”), but she also shows plenty of shades and emotions in the more mid-tempo pieces (“Masquerade of Love”; “Stargate”). She also has good melodies to sing, especially in songs like “Masquerade of Love”, “Time Won’t Tell” and “Stargate”, which are possibly the best tracks of the record.

Unfortunately, the interesting songs are all placed in the album’s first half, while the second half is considerably weaker and lacks cohesion too, due to a couple of tracks that do not seem to fit with the rest of the material (the bluesy “Cry for Your Love”, the strange AOR/metal hybrid “Beyond Lies”). This detracts somewhat from the listening experience since after the title-track I almost invariably skip most of the remaining songs, with the exception of the good instrumental “Miramar” that closes the album. The other major weakness of Stargate is the subpar production. The sound is muddy and muffled, and there is something seriously wrong with the mastering as there are several instances of audio clipping especially when the bassist starts slapping/soloing. The levels in the mix are also far from optimal, with the guitar sometimes pushed too far back and the drum/bass combo too upfront.

Overall, Stargate is an interesting, if imperfect, record that fans of neoclassical metal should pay attention to. In a sea of music releases that often sound all too samey, Stargate stands out thanks to some inspired songwriting and the presence of an exceptional female vocalist, which is highly unusual for the genre. A weaker second half and a messy production spoil somewhat the album’s enjoyment, but not so badly to completely undermine the record, which is in fact one of the best releases from this Swedish combo.

Sweden had its own power metal awakening that occurred parallel to the one that took place in Germany and Italy in the mid to late 90s, and like each of the other respective scenes they had a very characteristic sound. While the German one centered around either the melodic material of late 80s Helloween, the darker and more riff heavy works of Running Wild and Grave Digger, or some middle ground between the two, and the Italian scene was heavily focused on symphonic sounds with a looser Kiske era Helloween influence, the Swedish one was heavily focused on Yngwie Malmsteen and his 80s Rising Force releases. His influence as a soloist/shredder was also felt in the German and Italian bands as well, but many Swedish bands took a lot more to his style of songwriting and production practices as well.

Among these neo-Malmsteen offshoots were bands like Narnia, Winterlong, and the band that put this particular album together Stormwind. Much like the guitarists of the other two bands mentioned, neo-classical shredder Thomas Wolf has a very distinct style that derives itself heavily from Yngwie’s work, particularly the keyboard heavy and formulaic songwriting heard on most of “Trilogy”. When compared with Carljohan Grimmark and Thorbjorn Englund, he is the most restrained of the lot and the most focused on writing songs where his lead work is tailored to suit the song, taking the road that appeals to a bit more people beyond the guitar solo enthusiasts who eat up 8 minute long instrumental shred displays.

This band’s 2nd album “Stargate” is a bit unique among most neo-classical metal releases not only in that it came pretty early on, but also in that it is female fronted. Although this particular release and the debut that preceded it were one time only endeavors for the vocalists in question, the results are that of a fairly seasoned act that have gotten a hold of something that wouldn’t really be explored much afterwards. The character of the music is heavily geared towards a traditional approach to power metal, utilizing predictable harmonic progressions underneath fairly standard riffs, but the presence of a vocalist that sounds like a cross between Elisa Martin and Bonnie Tyler makes this sound quite interesting.

Much of the music on here is quite good, and by the standards of 1998 are fairly original, as most of the imitators of this style aside from Stratovarius, Concerto Moon and Narnia didn’t come out until a year or two later. There’s plenty of fun speed metal with songs like “Hit By The Sun” and “Time Won’t Tell”, both of which take a few lessons from Yngwie classics like “Fury” and “Faster Than The Speed Of Light”. There’s also a couple of nice instrumental guitar works in “Miramar” and “Sakura Opus” that draw upon a combination of European Baroque era music and far east Asian influences. But the real strength of this album is on the slow driving heavy songs like “Masquerade Of Love” and “Stargate” where the catchy and groovy work mixed with a heavy keyboard presence gives the song a sort of cosmic character, perhaps with a strong 80s take on said imagery, but a beautiful one too boot that plays off very nicely with Angelica Haggstrom’s wildly expressive vocalizations.

If you really enjoyed the early works by Concerto Moon and Narnia’s first two albums, this is cut from the same basic style. It’s fitting since Narnia and this band share a couple of members and that their Japanese counterparts came about around the same time and there is a strong Swedish influence on a lot of their various power metal bands as well. It’s got a few Rainbow and Uli Jon Roth influences here and there as well, but largely this is about as light, as flowery, and as 80s sounding as power metal can get. But as someone who loves this sort of music and am proud to proclaim myself as a member of anti-Kurt Cobain movement of early to mid 90s metal converts, I can’t bring myself to complain.