Rising Out of the Ashes

I came across this album some time in the mid-00’s, and was quite excited to hear an act I’d never heard about, trying to raise the dormant spirit of the 80’s US power metal scene with epicness and verve to spare. The name sounded about right, too. The vocals sounded familiar, though, and they weren’t hard to trace to the up-and-coming at the time Swedish power metal cohort Hammerfall… yes, we have none other than Joacim Cans occupying the place behind the mike. A side-project of his? Nope; the research work revealed a veteran outfit from the US, with a hefty cult following at that, with a full-length and an EP behind, both released way back in the early-80s. Tracking those down wasn’t that hard, and before long I owned the entire discography of a very cool band that was completely unbeknownst to me.

The Warlord/Hammerfall love affair is a very well documented one, the Swedes covering an old track (“Child of the Damned”) of the Americans on their debut “Glory to the Brave”, and later the Warlord mainman, also guitar player, William Tsamis lending a few tasty cords on the sophomore “Legacy of Kings” as a guest musician. Under the brotherly circumstances, it only made sense for Cans to display his vocal bravado on a Warlord comeback stint.

Right off-the-bat, there are only two brand new numbers (“Achilles Revenge”, “Enemy Mind”) here; the remainder is remastered versions of old Warlord songs (some instrumentals-only previously) plus a couple of tunes taken from the arsenal of Tsamis’ 90’s side-project Lordian Guard. The band’s staple “Lucifer’s Hammer” is certainly featured, but its infectious fist-pumping immediacy isn’t mirrored loyally by the rest if we exclude the excellent speedy energizer “Battle of the Living Dead”. The core of the album are lengthy epic sagas sustained in a consistent mid-pace, ambitious tale-telling journeys accentuated by Tsamis’ spell-binding pyrotechnics; the man is simply put a magician, and just listening to the guitar crying in his hands would suffice for many. Why he’s not mentioned right beside the other guitar virtuosos is beyond me… I guess his chosen field doesn’t quite promote an axeman’s heroics although the beautifully poignant melodies on “Sons of a Dream” alone would be enough to convince anyone of his talents.

The idyllic balladic “My Name Is Man” partly betrays the instilled battle-like aura, but here come the new cuts to aggrandize the environment, “Enemy Mind” being a sinister doom-laden steam-roller, and “Achilles Revenge” embarking on a more complex heroic metal journey with dynamic gallops, addictive melodies, gorgeous leads, slow-motion stomps, and a great sing-along chorus at the end. Pure unadulterated pleasure all over, an awesome collection of vintage old school heavy/power metal that nicely sums up arguably the best from these veterans’ repertoire. Cans is Cans, I mean he doesn’t alter his traditionally convincing clean passionate tenor, and surely performs to the best of his abilities, sounding not too far from the previous two vocalists, the Damien Kings (I and II). This lofty compilation by all means got the job done, to put the band back on the map, especially having in mind the new millennium audience, one that possessed no recollections whatsoever of the band’s old arsenal; the younger enthusiastic crowd who took it as it is, a great assembly of true metal tunes, a proud representation of an essential, ready to hit the spotlight once again, music scene.

Cans was gone for the next instalment “The Holy Empire”, his place taken by an old face, Richard M. Anderson aka Damien King III, who previously only sang on a demo released shortly after the full-length debut. He did a really good job to assist this brand new collection of classic heavy metal anthems, the style not far from the one on the album reviewed here. Two years later he was gone, too, and a hunt for a New Damien started with “The Hunt for a New Damien”, another mixture of old compositions which was fairly disappointing this time provided that there have been quite a few of those recently, including ones that contained unaltered originals only. The new Damien was found, the name Nicholas Leptos (also the power metallers Arrayan Path, the heavy metal cohort Prodigal Earth), but outside that this effort offered nothing new. The warlords are taking it very easy at present… it’s too peaceful out there, the canons have gathered rust, the hammers have been tucked away…

From a strictly musical standpoint, there is little reason to have made Rising out of the Ashes, Warlord's comeback after almost 20 years of dormancy. Most of the songs are re-releases, where the originals are better. Some of the originals were instrumentals and could have been left that way. I'm a big Yngwie Malmsteen fan. His best solo album was his first, which hardly had any vocals. I point this out despite the ... Ashes vocalist, none other than the soaring, absolutely glorious Joacim Cans of Hamerfall. That said, Cans wasn't necessarily a great vocalist choice. Little of this material challenges him like the Hammerfall material does. In fact, I have not been impressed with much of Cans' singing outside Hammerfall, not his Swedish language album, not his band Cans.

...Ashes' raision d'etre was publicity opportunities for all concerned. By the time the album came out, due to Warlord's spotty career/ lack of touring when they were together, there were far more Hammerfall fans than Warlord fans. Enter Cans, the ultimate firekeeper of the genuine power metal he loved, all through the dark years for this music, when it was ridiculed by the Seattle scene and its fans. Cans and Warlord actually have been connected since Hammerfall's 1997 beginnings. Hammerfall's debut album Glory to the Brave included "Child of the Damned," a Warlord cover. On Hammerfall's next album, Legacy of Kings, Warlord guitarist/ mastermind Bill Tsamis guest-soloed on the brilliant "End of the Rainbow." Likewise Cans was more than thrilled to sing on his heroes' comeback album, and it wasn't all altruistic. Warlord's Tsamis and drummer Mark Zonder are true metal gods. Additionally it is always good when an artist departs from his regular modus operandi. Surely Cans, wearer of many vocal hats, knows this.

The album has two new, non-remakes. "Achilles Revenge" sounds like something that would have come out of the nuanced 1980s Warlord. Tsamis and Zonder should be proud to put to affix the Warlord name to this moving original. Here in true Warlord fashion, Tsamis' guitar lives, speaks and becomes greater than life. His subtle, mounting heavy riff on "Enemy Mind," ...Ashes second original, may be its best trait. This dark and hard-hitting song is not anticipated from Warlord.

Now I move to the early 1980s Warlord instrumentals from their demos that sprouted vocals on ...Ashes. "Sons of a Dream" was originally titled "All for One." Cans brings his choral work and his Hammerfall vocal expression here. I enjoyed listening to this. Ditto for the uptempo "Battle of the Living Dead." Great Tsamis guitar soloing here. Zonder shines as well.

There are several remakes of vocal tracks on ...Ashes. First the good news. The bright, marching "Invaders," originally from Lordian Guard, is enjoyable enough, though the original was more spirited. Lordian Guard was a 1990s Christian, quasi-metal outfit consisting of Tsamis on all instruments and his wife, Vidonne Sayre-Riemenschneider, on vocals. Warlord wasn't active in the '90s. While an inconsistent vocalist, Sayre-Riemenschneider was brilliant on "Invaders."

Some of the poor ...Ashes vocal remakes like "Winds of Thor" were originally truly great. Jack Rucker with a folksy, soulful voice originally sang that song on Warlord's second demo (1981). There was organ on the original and most importantly, plenty of drama in the characteristic way Rucker threw his voice. It is with great pain that I must report that Cans, one of my favorite vocalists, brings little here. It's not that he sings badly. He never does that. To the contrary his presence is too full and commanding for what this song calls for. Additionally Tsamis' guitar work is quite mechanical on this remake and there is disappointingly no organ on it. Zonder's flourishes with double bass drum add a small amount of interest, but this remake has no spark.

Another ...Ashes remake, "War in Heaven," originally was a 1995 Lordian Guard track. A drum machine detracted a bit on the original "War... ," though the machine had a decent double bass drum. The vocals from Sayre-Riemenschneider at times lacked the expressive quality of metal, but were good for the song. The extensive, intricate guitar work stood out. Since this song calls for lots of double bass drum, Zonder is a welcome addition. Yet, in the remake overkill on both guitar and vocals ruin the song.

"My Name is Man" originally came from a 1980s project of Tsamis called Lordian Winds. Tsamis mainly used acoustic guitar, soloing on electric. Synthesizer was prominent, and the ethereal Rick Anderson sang this sublime ballad. Cans, master of the ballad, rises to the occasion. The later vocal refrains on the remake are mixed low, however, in favor of screaming guitar from Tsamis and heavy bass guitar. The song loses its ballad quality. That disappoints me but may please the numerous haters of metal ballads. That a decent Cans delivery is all but drowned out will please few. One redeemer of the song is Zonder's acoustic percussion. This is a welcome change from the rest of ...Ashes.

Another ...Ashes remake, "Lucifer's Hammer" from Warlord's 1983 Deliver Us EP is an absolute classic. A remake here runs into risky territory. Cans starts out strong, but loses expression later in the song. That makes one long for original vocalist Jack Rucker. As for guitar, the remake opens with some 21st century style punch, certainly a plus, but the guitar solos fall short of the originals despite being a little more involved. In the end this remake leaves one puzzled.

In summary if Tsamis, Zonder and Cans had actually decided to go all out and write some more songs, Rising out of the Ashes might have been a worthwhile release. Warlord was such a legendary band in the 1980s that any tinkering with their classics will surely upset people. That is exactly what happened here. They had better luck on ...Ashes where they added vocals to early 1980s demo instrumentals.