Hollowed Be Thy Name

“[N]ow there is an overarching sense of ambition, even pretension, that runs through the music. It doesn’t always translate to tape, it may never be something concrete, but it sure as hell can be sensed, which is half the battle.”

That’s a line from, of all things, the AllMusic review of alternative rock band Our Lady Peace’s rather confused third album, Happiness…Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch. I first read it when I was maybe thirteen or so, and I must admit I found the statement as pretentious as it claimed the album was. How is the main takeaway of the album something that is so intangible and elusive, I wondered. Sounded like some subjective B.S. to me.

It’s a provocative and mysterious line, though, so it stuck with me. And all these years later, I think I finally get what it was trying to say.

As you undoubtedly figure if you’re reading this, the conduit to said understanding was German power metal band Mob Rules, who of course have fuck all to do with Our Lady Peace (though incidentally, this is a review of their third disc). I’m familiar with basically everything these guys have done in their 25-year career, and much of it falls into the fairly straightforward power metal umbrella. In fact, for a while I regarded them as sort of the archetypal power metal band, with a pretty consistent focus on propulsive rhythms and melodies that aren’t graced with over-the-top keyboard or harmonic dramatics nor are prone to veering off on proggy tangents. Power metal for the working man, if you will.

Listen to, maybe, a dozen songs from the band’s catalog at random and you’d be forgiven for coming to a similar conclusion. But listen wider (to more songs) or deeper (more times) and you start to realize that this is a group not at all content with the power metal box, as they subtly, yet constantly, work to undercut that framework and lurch toward more ostensibly distinctive areas. On their first two albums, Savage Land and Temple of Two Suns, one could maybe write these moves off as the band still kind of finding itself, but by the time we get around to Hollowed Be Thy Name, they have to be taken as more trademark than quirk.

I realize that my description thus far is equally elliptical as I alleged the opening quote to be, so let me get more precise. Mob Rules is a band that musically tends toward power metal convention, but lyrically leans toward a narrative-based approach. I’m not sure how they compose their songs, but the structures that result seem to be driven by the stories they want to tell rather than a music-driven verse-chorus flow. What this means is that they come off more as a folk metal band that happens to write power metal songs, and the desire to create dynamic narratives also leads to some surprisingly proggy structures and keyboard augmentations as well.

“The second half is actually achieving something concrete, and the band needs to jump the next hurdle.”

Good luck with that, Stephen Thomas Erlewine. You’re reviewing a freaking Our Lady Peace record.*

*I must admit, I do think OLP’s first album is actually one of the better grunge records around. But that’s about it.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with hybridizing metal subgenres, and Mob Rules’ brand of narrative-based folk-power grew more compelling as the years went by. The problem with the albums that presently constitute the first half of the band’s career, though, is largely that the subgenres at play aren’t integrated well. Or, to put it another way, the band picked the wrong elements to emphasize their narrative orientation. The songs structurally twist and turn—most of them have some kind of odd pseudo-orchestral bridge with string patches or operatic vocals—and the lyrics, clumsy as they may be at times (vocalist Klaus Dirks, or whoever wrote these lyrics, is clearly short of totally fluent in English), do eschew all the “we are warriors…who fight for what we believe in…and so are you!” power metal clichés for something ostensibly more meaningful. But in order to convey storytelling effectively, there has to be a sense of progression, momentum, climax, and dynamism, yet the (supposed) central elements of the band instead remain slavishly devoted to the most orthodox and boxed-in approaches possible.

Dirks is always in an upper-mid register with a clean tone; even the occasional forays toward tenor high Es from the first two albums are largely gone here. For instance, in “Ghost Town,” Dirks covers all of F4 to D5—significantly less than an octave. There are literally six vocal notes in the entire song, sung all in a very similar tone throughout. Not only that, the band almost never has any sense of melodic variation—verse 2 is always basically verse 1, chorus 3 is the same as 1 and 2, etc. It’s damn hard to tell an effective story when your storyteller is insistent on such a one-dimensional delivery.

Compounding Dirks’ sameness is a set of guitar leads from Matthias Mineur and Oliver Fuhlhage that—while thankfully a bit more intricate and developed than the stilted slow-triplet runs that characterized Savage Land’s leads—generally either serve as fanfare bridges/extensions of the chorus melody (rather than solos) or basic, boxed in legato runs that are too sloppy to have melodic impact and too simple to add any kind of technical frenzy to the proceedings.

With Dirks, Mineur, and Fuhlhage all unable to conjure up any kind of significant tonal or melodic dynamism, the band resorts to trying to accomplish their narrative ambitions through production and sonic elements, employing both a wide array of keyboard sounds from Sascha Onnen and a whole bunch of wacky guitar effects. Though Onnen does occasionally come up with some bright, rousing key lines, the keyboards are often far too loud in the mix, burying the vocals and guitars, and a number of Onnen’s patches have a dated, clashing quality to them. The guitar effects also occasionally add some energy, like the wooshy flanger in the “Ghost Town” bridge, but just as often they are annoying detractors as well (see the vapid tremolo effect in the “House on Fire” prechoruses).

At its worst, the album gets caught in between the formulaic nature of the vocals and melodies and the scattershot production elements and undercuts itself in both the songwriting and storytelling departments. Semi-ballad “House on Fire” and speeder “Ghost Town” both have fine enough verses, and “Ghost Town” even throws a pretty strong and energetic riff set into the equation, but both songs fall apart in the chorus, where Onnen’s key tones and effects on the guitar (in the former song) and the vocals (in the latter) come off as forced, desperate attempts to add another dimension to the tracks. These choices, both in the production and arrangement of the tracks, make the songs too wacky and offbeat to function as straight-ahead power metal—they’re a long way off from the Primal Fears of the world—but the utter predictability of everything else going on leaves the band far short of any real impactful quasi-prog sense of adventure.

Now, the rest of the first two-thirds of the album is a little better than the two aforementioned songs, though it remains characterized more by respectability than superiority. “Speed of Life” follows in the tradition of many of the better tracks of the band's first two albums in that it quits while it’s ahead—at the 3:21 mark, in this case—and therefore doesn’t get bogged down in weird gimmicks, functioning as a sort of uptempo Deep Purple coaster filtered through Europower. The title track and “(In the Land of) Wind and Rain” are solid, stately midtempo numbers; the latter in particular starts to capture what the band is trying to do, with a solid chorus hook and a well-executed pizzicato string bridge. The choice to cover “How the Gypsy Was Born”—which is apparently a psychedelic rock song from 1971—is further revealing of Mob Rules’ narrative ambitions. But again, the band gets caught in the middle on the cover, cutting the ten-minute original down to six and then being undercut by Dirks singing every section the exact same plodding way, making the song dull and predictable until its end section, where Peavey Wagner shows up for some mercifully distinct guest vocals and the arrangement starts to roll forward in a coasting open-jam kind of way.

Six songs in, then—heck, two albums and six songs in—and you’d be forgiven for starting to wonder if the band’s sound will ever line up the way they seem to be aiming for, if the best they can ever come up with is a series of short, reasonably effective speeders and the occasional stately midtempo coaster. But it’s in the final third of the album where things take a turn for the better and point more directly to the greener pastures that would crop up more frequently on later work.

“All Above the Atmosphere” is a real jolt, and the first great Mob Rules song. At 4:01, you might be tempted to think it’s just another “less is more” short speeder where the band stays out of its own way, but it’s actually a pretty tight distillation of all of their elements. You’ve got a strong guitar intro, a piano-and-snare verse (the requisite odd choice) that builds forward momentum, and a big chorus hook over a 6/8 beat that stays free of any offputting production choices. Dirks still covers less than one octave—D4 to C5—but here at least the verse is mostly D4-G4 and the chorus is mostly F♯4-C5, so the band wrings whatever sense of dynamics they can out of Dirks’ tiny tessitura.

The other song that really works here is closing epic “Way of the World,” because at 8½ minutes, it naturally forces the band to step a little bit more outside their typical songwriting box and commit more wholeheartedly to developing different ideas. Dirks brings the most animated and commanding vocal performance of the album, the chorus actually develops over the course of the song, and it even contains the first legitimately strong guitar solo this band ever came up with. There is, of course, an obligatory long orchestral string break from Onnen, which alternately recalls any number of Avenged Sevenfold tracks from 2005-07 (“The Wicked End” and “Strength of the World” come to mind, in particular) and the bombast of many a Trans-Siberian Orchestra bridge, until Dirks comes in over the progression and suddenly turns the whole thing into Symphony X’s “The Divine Wings of Tragedy.” It’s the rare wandering key-driven midsection that actually leads the listener on a legitimate journey rather than coming off aimless, and makes one wonder if all the other songs would make more sense at such a length rather than force-fitting clashing elements into bite-size packages.

All told, Hollowed Be Thy Name follows Savage Land and Temple of Two Suns in being a fairly inconsistent listen on both a casual (looking for catchy choruses) and cerebral (looking for meaningful adventurous songs) level; in some ways, it may even be less consistent than its predecessor. Still, the band's ambitions can be sensed more clearly here than before, and there are times when they translate into concrete achievement. Hollowed Be Thy Name's bright spots are not moments of mere competence; they are moments of something like triumph, moments which hint at later, more positive chapters of the Mob Rules story.

German power metallers Mob Rules have really progressed since their 1999 debut, SAVAGE LAND. The first two albums, SAVAGE LAND (1999) and TEMPLE OF TWO SUNS (2000) are straightforward melodic power metal, however both albums failed to impress me. Picking up HOLLOWED BE THY NAME on somewhat of a whim, I popped the album in my stereo and was in for a surprise.

A brief piano intro opens the album on its title track, segueing into a wall of powerfully heavy and melodic chords. As the guitars kick in, the influences of Savatage and Queensryche can be heard in the lead structure. Symphonic keys build up the background, and vocalist Klaus Dirks lines creep in in somewhat of a sinister fashion. Brilliant, I’m thinking, as the bombastic, though lyrically simplistic chorus is sung over a catchy riff. Full-on speed-power metal in the vein of Helloween or Gamma Ray is the theme for the next track, “The Speed Of Life.” This one has some catchy guitar hooks, and a nifty keyboard bit during the chorus. Up next is “(In The Land Of) Wind And Rain,” my favourite track on the album. Another fast paced song, the main riff chugs along, interrupted by another epic chorus that I am compelled to sing along with. Dirks’ vocals are powerful and cover the spectrum of power metal competently and can hit all the high notes without the unnecessary wailing.

I guess every power metal album must include at least one ballad. “House On Fire” is the gratuitous ballad on HOLLOWED BE THY NAME. The keyboards create a feel much like early Virgin Steele (I’m talking about the Guardians/Noble Savage days). Other than that, it’s decent, but does not hold my interest. “Ghost Town,” has an Edguy feel to it, a solid slab of power metal. “How The Gypsy Was Born” is a cover track, though I could not find the original artist, other than the songwriting credit: Rumpf/Kravetz. With the exception of Peavy Wagner’s (Rage) guest vocals at the end of the song, I find the entire track to be both plodding and annoying; an utterly useless add-on. “All Above The Atmosphere” is another favourite of mine from the album. This track has a distinct Helloween style to it, but incorporates the Savatage influence in the rhythm structure. The keyboard/guitar interplay towards the end of the track is exceptional. Speaking of Helloween, it may be no coincidence that Roland Grapow performs the intro to this song, and also provides the guest solo on the album’s closer, “Way Of The World.”

Power metal fanatics will want to snatch this one up quickly. This certainly ranks leagues ahead of Mob Rules’ previous albums. HOLLOWED BE THY NAME has everything a power metal fan is looking for, plenty of melodic solos catchy choruses, and powerful, driving songs. Fans of Savatage and Virgin Steele will appreciate the influence that both bands have had on Mob Rules’ songwriting style. This album expands upon the band’s Germanic power metal roots to create an album that blends power metal and symphonic metal with the progressive metal approach of U.S. epic metal. HOLLOWED BE THY NAME is the surprise hit of the year for me. I strongly urge you to check it out.