Ancestral Romance

Dark Moor's "Ancestral Romance" is an example of what their previous album "Autumnal" would have been like if that album didn't have care and attention given to the catchiness of the melodies and general songwriting. "Ancestral Romance" is very much a successor to "Autumnal." It is thematically very similar and the songs have a similar mood and structure to them. Like on "Autumnal," there is admittedly a stretch on what the definition of a power metal album is on "Ancestral Romance." The difference is, where "Autumnal" seemed to KNOW it was lacking in harder and more metal material and made up for it with insanely catchy and memorable melodies and choruses to balance it out, "Ancestral Romance" is utterly out of decent ideas. The album ends up coming off as if it is a bunch of scrapped ideas from the "Autumnal" sessions that they strung together to make another album out of.

Now, to be fair, I certainly wouldn't say that "Ancestral Romance" is an awful album to any degree. It's a serviceable album that rarely has an unlistenable moment. What I CAN promise, though, is that very few if any of these tracks are going to stick in your head. I'd be willing to bet you'll listen to this album, and forget close to everything you just heard a half hour later. It's an extremely boring album that does nothing to retain an audience or make an impact. When I rattle off Dark Moor's discography, I honestly often unintentionally skip "Ancestral Romance," simply because I forget it exists. It is genuinely that unremarkable.

"Alaric the Marnac" is probably the only track that is really close to being a complete and fleshed out song on the album. It's also the only track where Garcia's guitar playing leaves any kind of impression too. The song has an aggressive and dark mood to it, with some solid riffs underneath it. There is also a solid little swapping segment between guitar and bass solos, but it is WAY too short to sink in. It's still just missing something. It's missing something to really drive it home and make it stick. It needs an especially cool riff or melody or segment of the song. The track is a solid effort, but despite being the best "Ancestral Romance" has to offer, it still fails to impress. "Tilt at Windmills" is the only other track that hits above average for me. It has a very catchy chorus melody, and Romero shows off his impressive range and passion during it. Unfortunately, despite having the only really good chorus across the entire album, the verses of the song are so typical and unimpressive that it's very hard for even the good chorus to make this song feel special. The chorus is still almost good enough by itself to warrant a listen.

The opener "Gadir" is the only other track on the album that leaves even the smallest of memories. This one sounds the most similar to what "Autumnal" offered. A lot of Romero's melodies are being matched by the backing orchestration, which is a lot of what "Autumnal" had going for it. "Gadir" has decent melodies of its own, but like much of the rest of "Ancestral Romance," they're just not good enough to really write home about. The song has a good mood and feel to it, but like "Alaric the Marnac," it's just really missing something more memorable to it to make it stand out. It's a solid, but still pretty forgettable song. "Ah! Wretched Me" starts with a lot of potential and then falls flat. It starts with a really cool intro where the bass is matching the melody of the orchestration behind it. That sort of focus isn't really given to the bass that much in power metal, so it makes you think you're in for something special, but the track quickly just goes through the motions. The melodies are especially boring and typical and the chorus doesn't leave even the slightest impression. There's no excuse for this song being as mediocre as it is.

The worst the album has to offer is "Just Rock." It's Dark Moor's attempt at making a crowd chanting rock anthem of a song. It sounds immensely out of place both on this album, and for the band in general. As the song goes on, they try to add their own unique flare to this style of song, but the damage is more than done already. It's a cringe inducing experience of a track, and the band sounds out of place and borderline confused about what they're doing. There is no reason for this track to exist, and I can't imagine it pleasing anyone. Besides the tracks I already mentioned, the rest are almost to lackluster to note. "Mio Cid" is probably the most boring of the boring. It goes on for far too long for the amount of absolutely cliche material it presents. It is as basic a power metal song as you can possibly get. Unremarkable riffs, beats, melodies, choruses, and orchestration that adds very little to the overall song. The song is painfully generic. It is a dime a dozen track that definitely overstays its welcome.

The only other note I can make about "Ancestral Romance" is that it's interesting to see the band make a song in their native Spanish language with "Canción del pirata," but it's just as lackluster and mediocre as the rest of the album is. When doing this review, I really strived to talk about the couple of memorable moments on this album, be they good or bad. For anything I didn't go out of my way to mention, just essentially take what I wrote for "Mio Cid" and apply it for those tracks as well. There really is such a huge part of this album that just adds nothing of note and barely warrants existing. If I left it out of this review, it probably could have been left off the album.

"Ancestral Romance" is the album to point to when asked where the wheels of Dark Moor fell off. It was certainly their worst album when it was released, and although it's not a horrible album and while it's true that things kept going downhill from here, this was the album where the band's utter lack of good ideas was crystal clear. When a band like Dark Moor, that used to be known for their musicianship loses that musicianship, all they have left to fall back on is their songwriting. When they lose their ability to write decent songs on top of that, what do they have left? The answer is nothing. The only thing you're missing if you haven't heard "Ancestral Romance" is the spot where the mighty started to fall.

Among the pinnacles of consistency in the power metal genre is Dark Moor, one of the few examples of a band that can actually navigate the troubled waters of reinvention without smashing into an oversized ice berg or coral reef. While some tend to dismiss the post-Elise Martin material, this is merely because she is not present in said era, and not due to any substantial change in the band’s quality of sound. They’ve been viewed as something of a Spanish answer to Nightwish, but actually the musical content is more in line with earlier Rhapsody (Of Fire) albums, and they’ve differed from said symphonic pioneers in that they haven’t really engaged in any odd production quirks or heavily narrated conceptual interludes to try and elaborate things.

For the casual observer, the latest offering in “Ancestral Romance” is not really all that different from “Autumnal”. But a closer look reveals an album that is a bit more humble in its presentation, indulging a bit less in the operatic and symphonic extremities that this genre tends to get trapped in at the expense of guitar presence. There is naturally a good amount of both of these dominant characteristics on all of the songs, particularly “Love From A Stone” with its flamboyant operatic soprano intro and ending, but the general rule is a catchy, straight up approach to songwriting that has always typified this band, rather than the elaborate compositional style that Helloween occasionally dabbles in. But there is a healthy amount of fancy bass work courtesy of newly recruited master Mario Gonzales, who all but shows up Markus Grosskopf with his fast, almost guitar-like sweeps.

There’s plenty to like and very little that is skip worthy, as this band knows how to stick to a working formula. For any fans of high-flying neo-classical sound speed and intrigue, there’s plenty to go around on “Alaric De Marnac” and “Cancion Del Pirata”. There’s also some down tempo work with a slight gothic tinge to be enjoyed in “Tilt At Windmills” and the catchy yet longwinded “A Music In My Soul”. In fact, apart from a rather odd instrumental in “Ritual Fire Dance” (which sounds more akin to a swarm of angry bees hovering over what sounds like an outtake from a Tchaikovsky work) and the somewhat corny sounding hard rock-infused anthem “Just Rock”, there’s no duds to speak of here. The entire arrangement is tight, the lead work is tasteful (albeit the bass soloing outclasses the guitar work), and Romero’s blustering tenor is as triumphant sounding as ever.

In some respects, this album could be likened to the 2nd Equilibrium album “Sagas” in that a few out of place elements have intermingled in what is otherwise a consistent theme of archaic glory, albeit the Dark Moor variant is a bit more poignant and poetic. Nevertheless, this is largely a good album, though it definitely takes a backseat to all of Elise’s work with the band and also a few of the latter day albums. “Autumnal” is actually a slightly better representation of this band’s recent works, but both that album and this one work quite well and provide a good alternative to Epica for those who don’t want any harsh vocals intermingling with clean singing. And this band has done quite well to dispel the notion that they’ve gone the way that Nightwish went since dumping Tarja.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on July 30, 2011.

Dark Moor has been a constant presence in the scene of symphonic power metal for nigh on 20 years now, and while they haven't had the greatest record for consistency, their persistence is to be admired. As a devotee of their brand of symphonic power metal (as opposed, perhaps, to Rhapsody), I've enjoyed every release at least moderately, if not much more so. Recently, they've been like a fine wine, getting considerably better with age after pulling out of their mid-era slump with the outstanding Tarot. With the release of Autumnal, my hope soared, as here was proof of Dark Moor re-asserting themselves as real masters of their genre. Of course, Ancestral Romance will be the real proof as to whether or not Dark Moor's solid new lineup has what it takes to remain at the top of their game.

The proof, friends, is right here. Dark Moor has released another landmark album that is on par with both of their previous releases in terms of grandiose songwriting, fetching melodies, and downright symphonic indulgence. While similar in spirit to their last release, Autumnal, Ancestral Romance is a bit less chromatic and romantically styled. The sound is generally a bit more light-hearted and/or quirky, as opposed to the somber tone that the band put forth previously. One thing they haven't fixed is their lyrics. As any Dark Moor fan will resignedly tell you, the lyrics are penned only very tenuously in the English language. The pronunciation really isn't too horrible, it's just that phrases like “Love came to me, love for good, from the stone. With love, how could I be alone?” end up being somewhat incomprehensible.

While I'm getting the bad out of the way, the song “Just Rock” has to be mentioned. This is awful. It's insipid, banal, and ridiculous. All words that I generally don't associate with power metal at all. It's like a substantially more orchestral Queen rose from the dead with a Spanish accent and backing choirs, trying to deliver an awful gospel of rock. Rock? Where's my METAL??

Enough! The rest of Ancestral Romance is a colorful spread of tunes that are predominantly inspired by Spanish history. “Galdir” kickstarts the album with a monstrously memorable chorus and a tale of the oldest city in Europe. “Love From the Stone” is technically the single off of this album, a love song that, while catchy and tuneful, is definitely not the best that the band has to offer. The album hits a dark note with “Alaric De Marnac”, the tale of a nocturnal serial killer, before stepping up to the mighty “Mio Cid”. Skipping over the aforementioned garbage, we arrive at the strange and lackadaisical “Tilt at Windmills”, which is a very relaxed and humorous track. I can almost see Don Quixote charging them with a ridiculous smile plastered on his face and a heroic song in his heart. The remainder of the album continues with the energetic and stellar “Cancion Del Pirata”, the whimsical instrumental “Ritual Fire Dance”, the quick and philosophical “Ah! Wretched Me”, and finally, the remarkable sole ballad “A Music in My Soul”.

Alfred Romero is perhaps the best that he's ever been on Ancestral Romance. From a husky, sensitive whisper of a voice at the end of “Mio Cid” and “A Music in My Soul”, to a rising, triumphant tenor in “Galdir” and “Cancion Del Pirata”, he is absolutely spectacular. Romero and Dark Moor are responsible for my love for power metal when sung in Spanish. I've grown to appreciate just how smooth, flowing, and beautiful the language is, and find myself just waiting for the sections or songs that are written solely in Spanish. “Cancion Del Pirata” and the final chorus of “Mio Cid” are prime examples of this.

Dark Moor's bombastic use of strings, brass, and choirs is here in full force, along with the rapid double bass and fiery guitar licks that I've grown so fond of. The harpsichord-emulating keyboard that has been in and out of Dark Moor's music since In the Hall of the Olden Dreams has made a return, and some parts of this new work feel like a throwback to the band's early glory days with Elisa Martin. They maintain their supreme musical (if not lyrical) talent for storytelling and emotional conveyance that I simply find most other artists incapable of matching.

Ultimately, despite their typical struggles with English and one BAD track, Dark Moor does indeed deliver another exceptional entry into their passionate neo-classical repertoire. I recommend Ancestral Romance not only to those who already fans of the band and other symphonic power metal, but anyone wanting to discover fast-paced metal meshed finely with art music elements. To Dark Moor: cheers to another solid piece of work that you should be proud to have your name on, but don't you ever write another song like “Just Rock” again.

Originally written for www.blackwindmetal.blogspot.com

Ah, Dark Moor. I've enjoyed the vast majority of this band's discography over the years, even their post-Elisa Martin albums which are a sore spot for some. In keeping with the theme of quality power metal albums I've covered lately, Dark Moor don't disappoint in the slightest with Ancestral Romance.

I wasn't expecting this album to be that enjoyable; it seems Dark Moor just don't have it in them to slump. They keep going from strength to strength with each release and I think that Ancestral Romance is their finest work since Alfred Romero jumped on board. His vocals on this album are his finest to date, reminiscent of Roy Khan in places as well as some near-Tommy Karevik delivery in tracks such as "Gadir" or "Mio Cid".

The album isn't without its faults, fortunately they are only minor problems and don't really distract from the enjoyment. The main offender is the ridiculously fruity "Let's Rock". The track is utter cheese, yet I will admit it has become somewhat of a guilty pleasure largely due to the kick ass riff introduced half way through or so. That aside, the only other slight hitch is the quality put forth in the first four tracks begins to diminish through the later half of the album. However tracks such as "Cancion Del Pirata" and "Ah! Wretched Me" keep the attention through the later half, the latter being one of the finest tracks on the album.

Overall I think this is one of the finer jewels in the Dark Moor treasury. Tracks such as "Alaric De Marnac", "Mio Cid" and "Ah! Wretched Me" rank among some of the finest the band have done, reminiscent of their older material in places yet still pushing forward. Ancestral Romance is a highly enjoyable record and is a worthy addition to any power metal fan's collection, particularly those of you with a penchant for the symphonic.

Originally written for www.metalcrypt.com