Dragonchaser

Man, I really really loved this band to the death. German melodic speed metal with a sensible warrior theme of adolescent gallop and a clumsy but lovely cartoon imitation of grown up passion? Don't mind if I take two, sir! Keep those colourful comic artworks coming, I am already drooling. At Vance were meant for great things. But then their incredibly charismatic and talented singer left, the songs got slower and less catchy. You know, the classic downfall of every power metal band. It's like a curse on the whole genre. No one is allowed to age gracefully, we must all start sucking before we die. And some get even worse than one could dream of in the nadir cave of artistic ball kicking nightmares. Looking at you, Hammerfall. What the absolute fucking fuck where you doing on that zombie album that nobody liked?

But back to prettier things: "Dragonchaser" will give every fan of early (I said EARLY goddamnit!) Hammerfall, Helloween or Steel Attack (anyone ever heard of those guys actually? "Fall into Madness" was extremely good!) a creamy wet spot in their panties, I'm sure of that. The genre was dining on full fruition and you can smell it on this album. Traditional power metal that still sounds fresh as a daisy, real hits with a fleshy, authentic ring to them. There is something incredibly strengthening about the absence of these modern studio orchestras on this album. Drums, guitars, bass, singer, a keyboard that knows when to shut the fuck up most of the time, that's it. I got my copy in a second hand shop for almost nothing (I would have paid so much more, MUAHAHA you fool!) and was humming along the catchy choruses for many months to come. Certainly gettin' my money's worth, fellas. If you can't party to the title track like a coked up child of a mafia boss, you miss out on something.

Graceful double bass hammering, heroic staccato riffs instead of open range synth keyboards, laid back soloing that doesn't stand in the way of the song and a beloved singer that is selling those falsettos like the charming motherfucker he is while still standing on the base of that raw masculine power that so many power metal singers simply do not posses. Hell yeah! It's a very varied album with speedsters, mid tempo rockers, instrumentals and ballads but it never loses touch with its cohesive vision and I have to praise it even more for that because a looooot of bands crash a changing pace like this into every wall they can find. "A fast opener and eight half ballads with solos that make your teeth fall out because of the frustration? Let me get right on that, chief! Oh don't worry, the listeners love crap like this!"

"Dragonchaser" understands the theatrics and limitations of its own world, makes the best of it and delivers a power metal experience straight from the heart. "Crucified", "Two Kings", these are anthems you will never let go. They don't have any tricks up their sleeves, they are just solid, engaging songs with carefully constructed, stable choruses, which is rare in a genre that relies on auditory click bait like a two dollar interdimensional whore. These guys even get away with covering ABBA because their singer ruled supreme over the interpretation. What a voice. Hard and dreamy. Get this album. Man, those were the days and they are never coming back.

The year was 2001 and metal had exploded across Europe, ushering in a new generation of power, progressive, and symphonic metal acts. Though the competition was quite stiff, self-made metal sage Olaf Lenk is still a cut above most with his vintage brand of power metal. Combining forces with vocalist Oliver Hartmann, the resulting project known as At Vance is a finely tuned machine that pumps out exceptional Neo-Classical style metal with a fair amount of Malmsteen inspired melodies and shredding.

The theme of this album differs from the last 2 releases and focuses more on the mystical side of power metal, particularly the Tolkien/Brooks inspired brand of high fantasy. Dragonchaser is essentially a collection of 10 rather intricate musical stories, two of them wordless, the other 8 with lyrics written on the backs of tarot cards on the inside CD jacket. The album cover depicting an elderly half-man/half-dragon holding a card of a lone warrior facing a fierce dragon is a good visual illustration of how the music comes across.

Like any Power Metal album, we have some great up-tempo music at the beginning and towards the end of the album. The title track features some rather amazing guitar soloing, paying a rather striking tribute to original Neo-Classical shredder Yngwie Malmsteen. “Ages of Glory” has probably the most powerful chorus on here and a stellar vocal performance by Oliver Hartmann. “Two Kings” is a moderately fast anthem with another memorable chorus and some superb drum work. “Too Late” is another high speed thrill ride with a main riff that sounds a good deal similar to early Nocturnal Rites music. “Crucified” is more of an upper mid-tempo track, but still moves along quite quickly, and contains plenty of Neo-Classical clichés in the riffs and melodies.

One complaint that has been levied towards this album is the large number of slower tracks in the middle of the album. “Heaven Can Wait”, “The Winner Takes it All”, and “My Bleeding Heart” all pretty much qualify as ballads, but they are all quite different from each other. The first is very Neo-Classical and has a synthesized voice melody that is very similar to Malmsteen’s “Devil in Disguise” off the Eclipse album. The second is more of a rock ballad with a chorus that sounds a bit like Queen. The third is the longest, and probably the most subdued of the 3.

One would normally assume to take off points for having so many slow tracks close together, but I believe there is a purpose to this. The entire album pretty much flows in a similar manner as a classical concerto, consisting of 3 varying sections. The first movement would be a fast movement which would encompass the first 3 tracks, either denoted as Allegro or Vivace depending on how fast. The middle section would be either moderately slow (Andante) or very slow (Adagio), and I would argue for the latter more than the former. Then for the third movement we get back to a more up tempo feel. The result is actually a very smooth flow from song to song; the only drawback is that if you don’t have a background in classical music, this approach to listening to it may not take.

We also have 2 rather brilliant instrumental works on here, one an original work, the other a re-arrangement of a timeless classic. “Ases Death” is a rather cryptic title, my guess is that it is either an acronym for something known only to Olaf, or it is an odd spelling of “Aces” and somehow represents the death card in the tarot deck. Judging from the slow and solemn nature of this work, resulting in what almost sounds like an Elegy, I’d bet it’s probably the latter meaning. “Beethoven’s 5th Sinfonie” is probably the highlight of this album, as I believe it to be the best arrangement of this masterwork for the heavy metal ensemble. Every instrument, including the percussion, is well placed to give it the Sturm Und Drang (the later half of the classical period where music became much more emotionally driven) feel that the original orchestral version possessed.

This is essential listening for fans of Power Metal and Neo-Classical Shred Metal. It comes highly recommended to fans of Yngwie, particularly ones who wished that his projects had a more consistent vocal sound from album to album. Fans of symphonic metal may want to check this out too; it may not have a symphony orchestra behind it, but it’s almost powerful enough to make you think that there’s one in there hiding behind the guitars.

Here we are, with At Vance's 2001 Full-length release, Dragonchaser. This was the first album by At Vance that I had heard, and I listened to Heart of Steel shortly afterwards, which I didn't enjoy as much. Basically, this is one of the most excellent releases in Power metal that I've heard in a while. In fact, It's probably up in my list of favourite albums, somewhere between Winter's Bane's 'Heart of a Killer', and Dragonland's 'Starfall'.

The album opens up immedtiately with the title track, Dragonchaser. Man, is this song wicked! It opens up with thundering, bell-tolling coolness, then breaks down into a brilliant guitar intro, and a very catchy, yet kicking main theme. The singing fits, the tempo is up, and the coolness already jumps up immediately. My favourite song on the album, though the rest won't disappoint.

The next song, Ages of Glory is perhaps even faster, and much happier-sounding. The verses and stuff are quite chatchy, but doesn't pack quite as much of a punch as the first song. Another crazy-cool guitar solo, and this song is another great track.

Number three is Crucified. Tempo down a tad, and darkness up a tad. This song isn't as catchy, but it will please the mid-tempo crowd who likes a dash of epic in their metal.

Moving on, we come to a brilliant cover of Beethoven's Fifth Sinfonie. We all know it, and I feel that most people have a place for this song in their hearts. I practically leapt for joy after listening the all Eight minutes of this song, and the guitar and keys work falls perfectly. The Drums are also used well, and replace a full-blown percussion section that one may expect, in a piece like this. Although, using a full-scale range of Percuss. equipment would have made this a bit more epic. Brilliant all around, and I'm sure that Beethoven is pleased up in Heaven, or where-ever the hell he is right now.

Number five on the CD, titled Heaven Can Wait, takes us down in both speed, and volume to the first real soft song on the album. The drumming in the song makes it a real good foot-tapper, though it's one of the weaker songs. It's got a fairly dark feel to it, particularily during the Guitar solo.

The Sixth song is The Winner Takes it All. Piano opening up the song shows us that we're in for a second slow song. While it's still a soft song, it's very different from Heaven Can Wait. It's lighter, and much catchier. That's how I prefer my slow songs: Catchy, pretty, and uplifting. The best low-tempo song on the album.

Number seven... My Bleeding Heart. You can already tell that this is another Slow one, and it's the sad one this time around. It's the second best of the ballads, but I still feel that it's weaker than Winner Takes it All. This pretty much ends the slow, lyrical songs on the album. One from each spectrum.

Finally, out of the Boring, and back into the speedier songs! Two Kings makes number eight on the album a decent addition to this album, though despite it's extremely catchy and clever chorus, it still manages to sound more generic than the songs that came earlier on the album.

Track Nine: To late. Now for something that every power metal album should have: Lightning-paced guitar intro, with shots from the other instruments. Another great ass-kicking song. It's very well-done. I love the main speed riff going on.

The Album closer is Ases Death. I'm not sure what Ases is supposed to mean, but this song is an okay closer, and it sort of winds down from all the ripping power metal pieces. It's an intrumental, like the Beethoven cover, but it's REEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLYYYYYYYY slow, and the lead guitar work ranged from intricate and interesting, to slow and mournful. I found it dull at many points. There's a fair amount of variety to it, but it's the weakest song on the album. I'd probably appreciate the switches between the ponderous and lightning-fast guitaring style more if I played guitar, but I'm a keys guy. I could be a bit biased.

All in all, this album was stupendous. I didn't like how the slow songs seemed to be bunched together, but they were all very decent songs. I can't say I enjoyed the Tenth track, Ases Death all that much, though. It would probably appreciated by other people, but I found it dull. That lost it some points, as well as the Song Heaven Can Wait. That one bored me as well when compared to the other slower songs. This album got me hooked on At Vance's power metal assaults, and I hope it does the same to anyone else who is lucky enough to hear it. Rhapsody fans will be enthralled.

Killer Tracks: All, except for Ases Death, Heaven Can Wait. Two Kings isn't a killer song, but it's not bad either.

Element out.