The Path to Glory

Colombian-based power metallers Legend Maker had an interesting start back in the late 90s, what with Sentinel Steel head honcho and all-around cool guy Denis Gulbey taking up their cause and helping them acquire a more “palatable” American singer in Michael Grant. I don’t know what sort of singer they originally had planned on using, but it’s doubtful they could have done better than Grant, who was simply magnificent in Onward. Actually, Onward is a solid comparison for this band, mainly due to Grant’s work – imagine a simpler version of Onward with lyrics about the usual power metal subjects, and you get something remotely approaching this, although consistency becomes much more of an issue with Legend Maker.

General inspirations here are the obvious – there’s a distinct early and mid-era Helloween flavor in addition to a less overt Maiden feel. Lots of double bass drums, guitar leads/solos, and a slight “happy” sound, though not nearly as stifling as, say, Freedom Call. Much of the credit has to go Grant for his commanding voice, one which thankfully sounds markedly different from all the helium-sucking generic power metal wailers out there. The rest of the band also acquit themselves well, especially the guitarists with their relatively simple yet effective riffing and interesting leads. The drums are noisy as expected, while the bass is largely just along for the ride, so to speak, mirroring the rhythm section closely.

As I mentioned earlier, the problems appear in the form of consistency. Namely, the quality of the songs varies wildly. “Leonelda” is a nice opener with enough styles to stay exciting for the full seven minutes. The follow-up, “Sands of Time”, though, is a pure snoozer that seems overlong at just 4:22. Then comes “To Hell or Heaven”, easily the best track on here and generally a terrific power metal number. It nicely avoids the nonstop double bass syndrome that can kill many a song, instead galloping along at an infectious pace. “Story”, the supposed epic song, sort of seems like disconnected ideas stitched together to make a long song. Not bad, but I expect more out of a nearly-twelve minute number.

These four songs feature quite a solid production for a no-name power metal act debut. Whereas most no-budget debuts tend toward a high treble, low bass sound this disc represents the complete antithesis – even the guitars seem a bit squished by the overall bassy sound. The last two songs are obviously tack-ons to fill the thing out to a full length release. Strangely enough, they hold up well, with track six being the second best song on the disc. The production on these is a little more in line with what you’d expect it to sound like (unless you’ve fallen asleep you’ll easily notice the shift into the “other” songs). Production-wise I suppose we can’t really complain, though it is a bit disappointing how obvious their attempts to pad the release out to full-length were. Even then, at only forty minutes long another song or two would’ve been nice.

Overall certainly not a bad release, with several good songs and one great one. Sprinkled amongst these, however, are a couple of duds, so don’t expect a perfect outing by any means. Fans of Onward who also enjoy power metal should relish the chance to hear more of Grant’s singing, while fans of standard power metal – the stuff derived from Helloween and the like – should feel at home as well. For what it is, it’s largely done well. Just avoid the follow-up, on which it became apparent the band was way in over its head without Grant behind the mic and Gulbey behind the business.