Black Empire

Force of Evil was a project I had pretty high hopes for back when it was active, largely because I hadn't been truly satisfied with a lot of the later Mercyful Fate and King Diamond material, save for 9 and the Abigail sequel, so hearing a 'supergroup' that would bark up that same, twisted tree was promising. That the project was almost entirely comprised of alumni from those two Danish greats was an even greater reason to be excited...Denner. Shermann. Patino, and Holm. Three of those names I'd follow off a cliff, even with the possibility of impending disaster. Well, Black Empire is not quite a disaster, and superior to the eponymous record from 2003, but it does have one obstacle in vocalist Martin Steene that it can never seem to shake...

I'm not saying Martin Steene performs poorly here, this is a guy with more than capable lungs who simply seems to lack focus. When he's on point, as he is occasionally in his mainstay Iron Fire, he delivers a kinetic, frilly, unique pitch that might have distinguished him among the crowded Euro power field. I just think he goofs off too much, or he goes overboard, attempt to ape a lot of different vocal styles and exhibit his range, and some times the screams get a little try-hard when he's going full King Diamond or Ripper Owens mode, which is unnecessary over a lot of this music. I get that he's got the Mercyful Fate guys in the band, and maybe there was a particular set of expectations that this was some sort of proxy for them, but Black Empire only really comes together when he's just absorbing the music and complementing it with his mid-range and pacing, whereas on tunes like the titular opening he's just all over the place trying to develop a more orchestrated, schizophrenic performance that just loses me entirely. This happens on roughly 50% of the album.

Vocals aside, the music here is generally consistent, varied and interesting enough that the listener's attention won't lapse too long. There is a good deal of straight-ahead, mid-paced Germanic power metal rocking, mixed with a lot of the dingier, haunted grooves of the Shermann/Denner team that one would have come to expect from 90s Mercyful Fate fare like In the Shadows or Time. A lot of cool, cleaner guitars and audible bass hooks (like in "Days of Damien") help to round off the metal edge, and you can tell the band put a lot of thought into their choices, attempting to find a common ground between that reunion Fate era, and Steene's own band. However, while the music is well enough written, I often found that the grooves lacked the atmosphere and memorable chords that were so important on much of In the Shadows, replacing those traits with a more modern polish that doesn't do much for me. When they pick up the pacing towards power metal, the riffs also just seem to fly by without sticking to me.

The production sounds great, even when Steene is performing his theatrics, the tone of the rhythm guitars has a nice, clear cut to it that beautifully sets up the leads, and allows the drumming and the bass to hover through. The songs are all paeans to various horror stories or films, and they don't just stick with the safer choices either...Damien and Texas Chainsaw Massacre are paid tribute, but there are also tracks here devoted to movies like Candyman or In the Mouth of Madness, to name a few. "Disciples of the King" is just dedicated to Stephen King in general. Heavy metal and horror movies have had a relationship for all the decades they've existed together, but I often find that the music just feels too bright and glorious to truly convey the themes expressed in the lyrics. Like those other Danish legends which supplied the band's lineup, Force of Evil does focus a little on getting this right, with mixed results...the moodier sequences with the cleaner guitars are quite well done, but often erupt into lackluster melodies and riffs.

The cover art also looks pretty hot, but I'm not sure that it has much to do with the music. A pretty package, all told, but not really living up to its potential. With all the great Fate albums between Denner and Shermann, this one doesn't hold a lot of appeal, not even against the middling Dead Again. Or if you'd like to see more hard hitting material from the duo, their latest collaboration for the album Masters of Evil has better riffing than what you'll find on the two Force full-lengths. This is far more than a trainwreck, committed to its subject matter, and competently executed, it just doesn't add up to something I've ever wanted to listen to repeatedly.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Man, what wonders a few listens can do. The Force Of Evil debut album was quite disappointing. When read that members from MERCYFUL FATE/KING DIAMOND had started a new band, you have high expectations. But that debut didn’t live up to anything. It was the same for me with this album at first listens, but the difference is that this album has grown on me a lot, and it’s a splendid heavy metal album the guys has done with “Black Empire”. Much heavier, darker, loads of guitar riffs, a improved singer and a many times better production. This is the nowaday’s MERCYFUL FATE.

The thing that is the absolute best change with this album may be the vocalist Martin Steene's improving. Never ever before have I heard him make as good performance as he does on this album. Many critics may complain about his voice, and that he doesn’t have any singing technique and blah blah. Fuck tecnique as long as the vocals are good, right ? And Martin just screams on and on through many of the songs, and how great he does it. Sometimes he sounds like Mr. King Diamond himself, another time he can sound like Rob Halford. You get the point, he screams so great that you get really happy for hearing it, and I was surprised that he could do this good. He has really pushed it to a completely higher level, and let’s hope it will stay like that on the other Force of Evil albums in the future too.

There are for sure some highlights among the songs, the two first heavy songs, the titletrack where Martin the King Diamond-ish vocals I mentioned earlier, and some great guitar solo’s to be found here – and second song “Back To Hell”, possibly the heaviest song on the album some great guitar work here too. Other faves are the epic “Days of Damien”, heavy MF-inspired “Beyond the Gates” and “Vorhee’s Revenge”, and the last superb variation song “S.O.S.”. All these are in top ranks of heavy metal. However, there’s some fillers on here (all albums have at least one, right ?) I found “Dead in Texas” as a boring song, maybe it’s too little variation, and also “Cabrini Green”, which has a cool main riff, but the lame chorus ruins it. Except those two, no other song to complain about.

So conclusion is, “Black Empire” is a really nice return done by the guys, with a awesome sound and heavy neat songs and that all heavy metal bangers should like, and let’s hope they can keep the same quality in the future. All that remains for you now is to go get this album right away – and be welcomed to the home of the Black Empire !

Force Of Evil is, as many of you are probably well aware of, the band of Hank Shermann, Bjarne T. Holm and Michael Denner, who all have a past in Mercyful Fate, joining forces with King Diamond-bassist Hal Patino and the much younger Iron Fire-singer Martin Steene. In 2003 a decent debut album was released. Nothing really special, but there was a certain nostalgia attached to that album which made it a fun listen. And especially Steene was a pleasant surprise, sounding much stronger than on any Iron Fire album so far. The music had clear Mercyful Fate references, but then without, to me, the most annoying Mercyful Fate element, being the lead vocals.

Less than a year later, Force Of Evil had finished this new album. And once again, Marin Steene is one of the strongest presences on the album. The youngster definitely adds something to the band, as his blazing vocals add an exciting edge to the quite predictable music. And that music leans towards the Mercyful Fate-side even more than the debut, as 'Black Empire' is a lot darker than the self titled debut. That sounds good and promising, and it would have been really good if the album was interesting from start to finish, but either this album lasts too long or the order of the songs isn't chosen too well. It's really too bad, because there's enough potential in this band and it's song material.

That potential is shown really well in the opening title track, which has to be the best Metal song of 2005! 'Black Empire' is a song with a clear 'Painkiller'-vibe (mainly because of Steene's Halford-like vocals), but has a lot of nifty climaxes that are even better than in 'Painkiller'. Martin Steene is in optima forma in this song. He screams, sings and even grunts on top of some killer guitar riffs and perfectly fitting rhythms, that make me headbang fanatically. There are some absolutely killer solos in this song as well, although I have to say that Shermann's are just a bit more exciting than Denner's, but that is something which goes for the entire album.

'Back To Hell' was chosen to made a video for and I understand that choice, as it is one of the more accessible tracks available on this album. It's a really good one too. Especially the way the song is built up is really cool, there's this interaction between the two guitars divided over your two speakers which has an awesome effect. The riffs in this midtempo track are once again killer and so are Steene's vocals. One of the best things about this song is the bridge to the chorus, just check it out and you'll know what I mean.

'Cabrini Green' is, dispite its terrible lyrics, a really nice song too. The lyrics are a weak point of the album anyway, all the songs are linked to horror themes but instead of creepy, they sound pretty funny actually. This song is probably the best example of that. But the guitar riffs and the vocals sound really well, so there's no major complaint here.

A doomier side of Force Of Evil is displayed in 'Death Comes Crawling' and it is displayed successfully. This is actually one of the most interesting tracks of the album because of the many changes in tempos and moods all throughout the song and builds up to a great climax. There was an early version of 'Death Comes Crawling' on the 'Evil Comes...Alive'-DVD, but this one definitely beats the shit out of that version.

Unfortunately, these were the highlights of the album. It all goes downhill after that. 'The Sinister Show' isn't bad at all, the song is decorated by nice guitar riffs and once again very good solos, but 'Days Of Damien' is a song which fails at being a song of epic proportions miserably. Apart from that nice faster riff in the middle of the song, this song just keeps on dragging and seems to want to work to a climax, but doesn't succeed in that. And besides, 'The Omen' has been sucked completely empty by other Metal bands, there's nothing cool or evil about that concept anymore. A weak song.

'Disciples Of The King' is butchered by it's terrible chorus, as is 'Beyond The Gates', even though the rest of the latter song is quite good. 'Hobbs End' is a temporary peak, as it has some interesting rhythmical things and the climaxes in that song actually do work. It's almost as good as the first four songs of the album, but 'Dead In Texas' (the concept of Leatherface has been sucked empty as well) and 'Vorhees Revenge' are an insult for everyone who appreciates the past of the band members.

Luckily the album ends in a very decent fashion with 'S.O.S.'. The only complaint about that song is that the sound effects in the beginning (the overused blowing winds) last a little too long, but the song that follows them makes up for that more than perfectly. 'S.O.S.' has a very unusual structure as compared to the rest of the album, contains a couple of outstanding guitar riffs and evolves into a Slayer-like chaos near the end of the song, with the difference being that the screaming guitars are replaced by several layers of Martin Steene's vocals. Let's just say this song saves the honor of the album.

So there are several complaints about this album...the five best songs are the first four songs and the closer, all the songs sound kind of similar and the same can be said about the tempos of the songs, there should have been two or three more fast songs on there. On the other hand, the vocals are stellar, there are some killer songs on there and the production fits the dark atmosphere of the music really well. This band definitely has some potential, but maybe this album just came out too soon after the debut...

"Black Empire" is Force of Evil's second album, released one year after their self-titled debut. The lineup remains the same, as does their nostalgia for 80's style gothic metal.

Yet, one thing raises this album above the other; the production. The guitars are fairly heavy, in sharp contrast to their last album, and the drums are much clearer, revealing that Bjarne T. Holm is a pretty good drummer after all. The same cannot be said for Hal Patino, for even though the bass is much clearer this time around, he does nothing remotely interesting on his instrument.

The album kicks off with the title track. Martin Steene does a death growl in the beginning, then goes directly into a loud scream. It's a great transition, and King Diamond himself would be proud. Steene continues his frenzied screaming throughout the song over a great, headbangable riff. A second memorable riff kicks in halfway through the song. Michael Denner gives a pretty good solo (for him at least) and then Hank Shermann begins his shredding. HELL YEAH!!! THIS song is a perfect example of what I expected when I first learned of this band's existance!

Sadly, the rest of the album does not come close to the bar that was set with the opener. "Back To Hell" and "The Sinister Show" are decent, but that's about it. There are a number of things going wrong throughout. A couple of songs, like "S.O.S." start out with a kickass riff, but the song doesn't expand or go anywhere. The riff is good, but it isn't strong enough to carry the entire song. Then we have the epic, "Days of Damien." It plods along, only building up slightly after several minutes of mind-numbing boredom. Then for the climax, there's just an incredibly crappy Michael Denner solo. What a letdown; I had high expectations when I saw this album included an epic, but "Black Horsemen" this is not. And don't expect anything from Denner on the rest of the album, he continues his reign as the most overrated guitarist in metal, his fame coming only because he played next to Hank Shermann on the legendary 80's Mercyful Fate albums. Martin Steene unfortunately doesn't keep up the fenzied pace he succeeded with on the opener. Most of the time he spends his time singing at mid-range; it's incredibly boring. And then there's Steene's choruses. They're TERRIBLE! They somehow manage to be even worse than the verses, a difficult task. And finally, Hank Shermann still has a few awesome solos on the album, but there are many that are weak and don't add much to the songs. This is the final nail in the coffin for "Black Empire," because hearing Shermann shred was half the reason I bought the CD.

The band needs to go back to the schizophrenic leads and solos of the early Mercyful Fate albums, this would definitely make their albums more exciting. They should also give the boot to Michael Denner. Get a young guitarist who still has something to prove to play alongside Shermann; something like this might rejuvenate the rest of the band. With the title track, Martin Steene proves that he has the talent to lead this band, but it is like he isn't trying at all. I'd give him maybe one more album, and if he does not step it up, perhaps someone else should handle the vocals for the band.

Despite the hype for this band and especially for this album, "Black Empire" is a flop. The album is also difficult to find and very expensive, at least in America. Stay away from this and give your old copy of "Don't Break the Oath" another listen instead.