Beyond the Sea

Dark Moor's "Beyond the Sea" is the album I point to when someone asks me where the cracks began to show for the band. "Beyond the Sea" is definitely still far from a bad album. It's serviceable and decent enough, but...it's just so basic. The strength the band had in their songwriting took a very obvious decline starting with this album. A lot of the creativity is gone, and instead we get a lot of stock, by-the-book tracks that fill this album up. Still, though, this album looks like a miracle compared to later albums in their discography.

The opener "Before the Duel" and the title track of the album might as well be the same song. They both follow the most basic of basic power metal formulas. They are uninspired verse-chorus repeated songs with a solo thrown in. There is nothing on these two songs that you haven't heard a million times before from every generic power metal band across the genre. Both of them have solid choruses that will get you moving a bit, but neither chorus is a standout, either. "Before the Duel" is the worse of the two, because it's a LOT more generic. The title track has a bit more inspiration in the flow of the song. The riff has a touch more energy, and the transitions to short sections of growls give it a bit more life. Neither track is anything special, but neither is terrible at the same time.

"Houdini's Great Escapade" is really the song that leaves me the most disappointed on the album. The two tracks mentioned above were exactly what they described on the tin, but this one tries to have a bit more substance to it. The main riff is one of the more solid riffs on the album, and it's definitely a more energetic song with some cool sections. The mix of Garcia providing harsh vocals that are biting and harsh with Romero's beautiful notes gives the song a cool feel. But there are so many moments on this track where I feel it just gets lost. The chorus rambles around, and the riff sounds absolutely lifeless and botched. It's a strange case of a song that tried to cut out from the pack, but wasn't quite good enough to make the impact it was looking for. "Going On" is another pretty generic power metal track, but the riffing is a little bit more interesting, and the chorus is SO good that it pulls it a bit above the average track of the album. This is one of the couple of times on the album where Garcia busts out some riffs that aren't just rumbling power chords that get lost in the recesses of the overall song. The chorus of "Going On" shows what a great singer Romero is. It's filled with a ton of emotion, and he has a great flow in how he hits the notes of it. These couple of differences, along with a cool keyboard solo, are all it took to make a song like this go from cliche to a much better addition to the album.

"The Silver Key" is my pick for standout track on this album. The intro solo is reminiscent of how former Dark Moor albums sounded, and much like the previous self titled album, the orchestration on the track is interspersed exactly how it should be. It fills natural gaps left in the songwriting and complements everything else that is playing rather than trying and replace or hide anything. Everyone has a good showing on "The Silver Key" and the songwriting provides a lot more depth to the track. It has a strong chorus, and no part of the song overstays its welcome. "Alea Jacta" is the other true highlight from this album. Garcia starts the song out really nicely, but other than his intro solo which comes back a few times, he's really just laying down a backing for Romero, who is the star of the song. His vocal storytelling is perfect for this song. The range of notes he hits and the emotion he hits them with is magical. He really lays it all out to hold this song together. Garcia also has a memorable solo on top of it. "Alea Jacta" is a song that probably would have been a boring one with a less talented singer, so a ton of credit should be given to Romero for making it a very good song.

"Beyond the Sea" definitely ended up standing out, because I think it was clearly the lowest point in the band's catalog up until the time it came out. I even think the very rough debut album from them had more to offer than this one did. While "Beyond the Sea" never once hits anywhere near unlistenable territory, it's just too generic of a power metal album to really leave a lasting impact. This was the first album that showed they seemed to be starting to run out of ideas about how to make a memorable album. Fortunately for "Beyond the Sea," though, running out of ideas still leaves a far better end product than laziness. Dark Moor certainly didn't start to get lazy yet, but they didn't have that much more steam in them before that'd start to happen.

After Dark Moor announced their singer, keyboardist, and drummer were all leaving the band sometime in late 2001, the three records that followed have all become worse and worse in the order they were released, reaching the very bottom of their long, long fall with their self-titled album in 2003.

Two years later, with a new bass player and a somewhat heavier sound, Dark Moor is climbing out of the pit they had fallen into. Replacing multi-layered orchestral arrangements and dominant choirs are multi-tracked guitars and occasionally a death growl. So, overall, the style is more like gothic metal now than symphonic rock, with drum parts close to blast beats, and of course the growled vocals. They still manage to sound very symphonic though, utilizing a keyboard (played by drummer Andy C.) for all the orchestral arrangements.

Besides the heavier sound, their is also a peaceful feel to some of the songs, such as "Before the duel", "Miracles" and "Green Eyes", though this is eclipsed by traditional metal and power metal influences ("The Silver Key", "Going On", "Beyond The Sea") and there are even some hints of neo-classical metal style still in the sound, such as the bonus track "Vivaldi's Winter", which is of course a guitar cover.

The lyrical content of the music is deeper, it's not just the typical power metal stuff (finding the silver lake, et cetera) that has been done to death in all of the band's previous albums. There are more thoughtful lyrics, like with "Before The Duel", which seems to be about a man living his last day, or "Houdini's Great Escapade" which includes a theory about how the famous magician escaped so many times. There is sometimes a religious feel to the lyrics as well, and they were all well-written, even "The Silver Key", which is based on a fantasy story.

To those who didn't enjoy Dark Moor's last album, this will be different I assure you. I recommend it to those who like anything from classical music all the way down to symphonic black metal fans. It is a mix of almost every style of metal, including symphonic metal, power metal, straightforward heavy metal, gothic metal, neo-classical metal, and of course with the added black metal dimension of growled vocals.

You may wonder why I have not rated this album 100 percent if I have had so many good things to say about it. The problems are many. Firstly, Dark Moor's most annoying tendency to include a pointless instrumental track on their albums is still here, though there is not just one of these tracks, but two! If you count the bonus track "Vivaldi's Winter", there are three, because after the Winter guitar cover, there is a two minute silence. Then following that a completely random, though beautiful, piano performance. Without all the instrumentals this album would have run a good ten minutes shorter, but with Dark Moor, a forty minute record is perhaps a sin.

It’s just impossible to fancy what a great number of mutations and metamorphoses the Metal genre has been exposed to lately. There are such a lot of subspecies in stock today that sometimes you are merely not sure how to dub one or another case you have to deal with. Sometimes these mutations are nothing else but flagrant faults of the overfilled musical habitat, sometimes they are nothing new yet strong enough to be placed into the golden mean, and sometimes (sadly, a rare case) they just outshine the rest by their uniqueness.

DARK MOOR can be easily ascribed to the second category. Not being quite unparalleled on today’s metal stage, these Spaniards still make good Power Metal albums measurably spiced with some symphonic elements. Certainly they couldn’t escape the common lot of imitating such pathfinders of the genre as RHAPSODY or STRATOVARIUS, yet they managed to develop its own sounding having borrowed the best features from their big brothers.

“Beyond The Sea” is the band’s fifth album and the second featuring almost a new line-up except founder and main composer Enrik Garcia. With that involuntary change, a relatively young band went through its second birth. And I must admit that I like it better in this re-born capacity. I can’t judge the first attempt of the new line-up as I still haven’t had a chance of getting familiar with it, but the work under consideration is surely met with my approval. I don’t feel like doing a track-by-track analysis here, so I’ll simply try to get across my overall conclusions and thoughts about this release.

First, this is not an epoch-making masterpiece that will be continuously referred to in the future by reviewers when making an appropriate comparison. On the other hand, this is a really strong and captivating album ample in rich musical structures and arrangements. Besides, for those preferring their metal with a lot of sugar there is a vast deal of sweet points to take a real pleasure in. Following mainly the general canons of Power Metal, it occasionally erases the distinction between metal styles and you can hear a lot of symphonic licks, piano splashes, unexpected interludes with the totality of classical instruments and kettle drums and even some growls in a couple of songs. The whole musical filling of the album is not far from that of KAMELOT: I compared “Beyond The Sea” with KAMELOT’S “Epica” and was pleasantly surprised how similar both of these works are. The songwriting is also good enough though if compared to KAMELOT on this point, DARK MOOR is somewhat inferior.

Second, the idea of superb production in music is not the last thing to reckon with. And here you face a fairly worthy example of impeccable efforts from those responsible for the band’s sounding. Although the main man in the face of senor Garcia is a guitarist, he doesn’t dominate on this album at all, enabling the rest of the team to prove themselves as well. No part here is overshadowed by the others – each instrumental and vocal line is clearly heard and penetrates deep into your heart. Sonically this album is, no doubt, the best release under the band’s belt.

And finally, one can fall into a long discussion about the degradation of the genre claiming that all Power Metal bands in the world are just clones of each other, but this is a horse of a different color and I think the majority will agree with me that we are here to compliment, not to run down. So I’ll just take off my hat and say “Thank you very much for sharing your talent with us”.

Spain’s Dark Moor return with their fifth full-length manifestation of stellar musicianship, myth-laden lyrics, and choral chants. Led a second time around by vocalist Alfred Romero, the five-piece force has composed yet another majestic opus, surpassing most albums that the genre has offered in recent years. Picking up almost exactly where their 2003 self-titled venture left off, Beyond The Sea is unquestionably topnotch Dark Moor in every way, shape, and form. With the latest two releases, the band has really shown substantial progress in rediscovering and reinventing their sound. Slightly less focused nowadays on the classical end of the arrangements, Madrid’s elite power metal act have taken on a much more aggressive tone, even utilizing death vocals here and there.

The elements of power and melody glide on the winds of virtual perfection, and whisper sweetly to the soul while causing the heart to race in excitement; a soothing combination that makes for a brilliant record. An emotional thrill ride, if you will. In addition to a superior production, the foundations of the songs are strong and structured with varied tempos and flawless interplay between each of the five members. Simply put, if you are familiar with Dark Moor and are a fan of their past works, then Beyond The Sea is sure to please.

Overflowing with oceans of tales about legends such as Julius Caesar (on the tune called “Alea Jacta”) and American magician Harry Houdini (“Houdini’s The Great Escapade”), each song is delivered in a precise and immaculate fashion, forging a backdrop for a history lesson that is captivating rather than drudging… if only my school courses were taught in this way, I would have been an honor student. Other high points of Beyond The Sea are the hypersonic opener and first single “Before The Duel”, the ever so catchy title track, and the enthralling ballad “Green Eyes”.

For over half a decade Dark Moor have weaved their fate as epic power metal gods and claimed their station as one of my most cherished bands of any style. Beyond The Sea is only an additional chapter penned in that testament. Do yourself a favor and dive into this one!

Dark Moor's last self-titled record was, despite the dissapointment, a really good record. It contained high quality power metal straight through and even if it never delivered any magical moments a la the records with Elisa C. Martin, there still were lots of great riffs and nice melodies to revel in.

My hopes for the new record was for it to be even better with a somewhat tougher sound. The news began during autumn 2004: [1] the title, “Beyond the Sea”, was announced to my dissatisfaction – what a boring and impersonal title! [2] The cover was presented – oh my god! One of the finest album covers I’ve seen in recent years, with great illustrations and a beautiful blue colour, but [3] the sample song “Before the Duel” was the biggest disappointment!

The record starts out with “Before the Duel” and as I said: what a disappointment! This is a really lame song, and an even worse album opener. Sometimes it shines with some fine guitar melodies, but other than that this song gives me nothing spectacular.

Instead we move on the “Miracles”, which is a much more interesting song. The melodies are beautiful and the mid-tempo works surprisingly well – it’s not something Dark Moor is known for. But the significant choir and symphonic strings are both there and even some growl vocals to give the song another dimension. Excellent!

From the nice piano outro of “Miracles” to some old-school heavy metal riffs. The transfer is strange, but the contrast works fine and I was surprised by it. We are faced with “Houdini’s The Great Escape” and it just hits you forcefully. This one was a big pleasant surprise.

If I should be honest I am quite fed up with these symphonic interludes, but “Through the Gates of Silver Key” reminds me so darn much of present Dark Moor moments so this one is actually really good and it leads up to…

“The Silver Key” with strings, raw riffs and drums. A very cool intro, but suddenly it all disappears in a flood of bass drum. From there on this song looses its personality completely – some nice melodies here and there but absolutely nothing more than that. Mediocre!

Then the worst crap ever is played for us. “Green Eyes” is a soft metal ballad. Metal ballads are usually quite good, but here the melodies are so MTV-pop and Alfred Romeros vocals are too irritatingly sentimental. Horrible!

Over to something better now, “Going On”. The intro guitar reminds a little of Iron Maiden – and that’s good – sounds nice. The song continues to some satisfaction – quite good actually, but not something very memorable either.

Then the title track: “Beyond the Sea” is just excellent. The singing is great, the riffs are just right and the chorus work really well. This is another mid-tempo track which tops this record. Marvellous!

Another of those darn interludes! This time I’m not so keen – “Iulius Ceasar” starts out bombastic, but is just too long for its own good. The middle part tends to drag too much. If they would’ve skipped the calm middle part and just concentrated on the bombastic parts this would’ve worked well. It finally leads up to…

“Alea Jacta” is the final song on the album. Bad choice! “Alea Jacta” is a power metal tune like any else and will be forgotten immediately. The final track should be something special and at least on such a symphonic and dramatic record like this. The previous self-titled record ended with a long, powerful and very well-written epic. This is short, fast and unoriginal – need I say more?

“Beyond the Sea” is, sadly enough, a big disappointment. With a record of ten tracks, there are only three memorable ones – that is weak! Where are the powerful compositions? Where are the magical melodies? On the previous record the song-writing was still of high standard, but then the bassist Anan Kaddouri also left and now it all seems gone. If the next record isn’t better than this, I fear that Dark Moor will be gone forever...