Hero Nation - Chapter Three

After its second album, Metalium went through changes again since American guitarist Jack Frost and British drummer Mark Cross left the band. Metalium decided to stick to only one guitarist as the quintet became a quartet. Michael Ehré became the new man behind the kit and would later on play with Uli John Roth, Gamma Ray and The Unity. The international project became a German band and this line-up would remain quite stable for the next few years. However, this stability would harm the band, making it more repetitive and less relevant.

The band's third output Hero Nation still desperately tries to add some diversity. It features an epic symphonic ballad called "Infinite Love" inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet where main vocalist Henning Basse performs a stunning duet with classically trained award-winning singer Carolin Fortenbacher.

The epic "Fate Conquered the Power" features a keyboard performance by Ken Hensley of former Uriah Heep fame and a guitar solo by Primal Fear's and Sinner's Tom Naumann.

Donald Airey, previously known for his works with Ozzy Osbourne and Rainbow and later on Deep Purple, plays on four different tracks, including the atmospheric, creative and dynamic power ballad "Odin's Spell" which is the best song on this album along with "Infinite Love".

However, the numerous guest musicians can't hide the fact that the song writing on this release is much weaker than on the two predecessors. The band seems to be lost between the energy of the first record and the epic direction of the sophomore output. However, most songs are neither aggressive enough to compete with the debut nor elaborate enough to equal the quality of the second release. Especially the first half of this release offers traditional heavy metal by the numbers with lackluster power metal elements. There are no choruses, rhythms or solos that will get stuck in your mind.

In the end, Hero Nation is interesting for its numerous guest musicians and a few experiments but most songs sound bland and uninspired. While the band's first two records should equally appeal to heavy and power metal fans, the third release won't please either side and is slightly above average at best. It's the first sign of a slow descent for Metalium.

Chapter 3 of the ongoing Metalium saga sees the band making some line-up changes once again, this time downsizing the number of guitarist from two to only Mathias Lange. Although stylistically this is still the same band that brought forth two excellent textbook power metal albums in the Judas Priest vain, “Hero Nation” is a little bit of a step down in terms of songwriting. The speed is still there, the chops of all the members of the band are still on full display (in the case of Lars Ratz’s bass work there has been an upgrade to compensate for the missing 2nd guitar), but the overall listen from start to finish sees a small amount of lag in the energy department. Furthermore, whereas in the first two albums I could recall most of the songs from memory, here some of the tracks tend to stand out less.

Things start off with a bang with “Source of Souls”, the prototypical prelude with 2 narrations, one a soft feminine voice and the other a deep, gravely, masculine one. “Revenge of Tizona” features some solid speed metal work and one of the more memorable choruses on the album, loaded with vocal acrobatics on the part of Henning Basse. Another stand out track includes the slow and heavy “Odin’s Spell”, one of the longest and most epic songs to be put out by the band. “In the name of Blood” and “Accused to be a witch” have some really raunchy sounding bass work in the mix, matched by some hard hitting mid-tempo guitar riffs. “Rasputin” is one of the better examples of Painkiller worship heard on any of Metalium’s releases, spearheaded by a highly dramatic intro riff with a rising keyboard line. “Throne in the Sky” is also a decent and catchy fast track, although the vocal line Basse puts forth during the chorus will probably make you burst a blood vessel in your head if you try to hit it on his octave.

From here on in the album gets a little bit mixed, as both the following songs suffer in the songwriting department. “Odyssey” starts off pretty well with some atmospheric keyboard work and then a solid middle-eastern sounding riff, but the chorus just meanders and doesn’t really stick in my memory. “Fate Conquered the Power” drags too much and the chorus has a 2 note bass line that makes it sound like it wants to go somewhere but never does. “Infinite Love” is the band’s homage to the Romeo and Juliet story and features a well known opera singer doing a duet with Basse, definitely among the more unconventional metal songs in Metalium’s repertoire, but it works quite well, especially when the low as hell down-tuned guitar hits those bottom chords. The title track has a somewhat overdone intro, featuring an irregular drum beat that almost throws off the feel of the song, but once it gets going it cooks quite well and ends the album on a positive note.

Ultimately this is not a significant step down for the band, most of the same ingredients that made “Millenium Metal” and “State of Triumph” great are present, but the arrangement does miss the second guitarist a lot. The soloing on this album is not nearly as strong as the first two, and the overall listen is hits a lag during the second half. The idea of structuring an album around some major historical events is interesting, but seems a bit out of place when compared to the near-mystical and sci-fi elements of previous efforts. Perhaps I’m nitpicking a bit, but there is a recognizable difference between something that is excellent and something that is simply above average. If you are interested in this band, which most fans of German power metal probably should be, I recommend purchasing them in chronological order. The quality of Metalium’s sound has basically been on a slow wane since the beginning, although there is some hope that “Nothing to Undo”, which I have not heard yet, may see the band regaining ground.