Elvenking-Two tragedy poets ...and a caravan of weird figures

AFM
2008



Italian act Elevenking have bounced around styles including folk metal, power metal and now they come back to folk music with a little metal tossed in. This album feels more like an album of extras than a real studio effort. There are acoustic versions of previously released songs "The Wanderer" and "The Winter Wake". That's not so bad, but covering Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" is a bad idea and Elvenking give us an absolutely atrocious version that will leave a bad taste with you for hours after it ends.They sound like they spent a few too many hours at a renaissance fair. Okay, they are tight and upbeat. Those two aspects help this to move along well enough. The main question in my mind is who will this appeal to? Folk metal fans? I doubt it or least not for most fans of that sub-genre. The reason is there simply isn't enough metal to these songs. To me good folk metal should include both styles and my preference would be for it to be heavier on the metal side. Maybe people who love the folk aspect will flock to it. I just kept hoping for some kind edge to work it's way into the mix. Unfortunately that didn't happen enough. The overuse of gang choruses wore on me after a while as well. Elvenking sort of had my interest for a song or two, but then they persisted in going down the same road without enough variance. In the end "Two tragedy poets" is just too light and repetitious for my liking.