Silent Force-Rising From The Ashes

AFM Records
2014

So it's been almost seven years since fans last heard heard from Silent Force? That's what the promo material for "Rising From The Ashes" let's us know. That doesn't surprise me all that much seeing as founding member/guitarist Alex Beyrodt (Missa Mercuria, Primal Fear, Sinner, Voodoo Circle, Mat Sinner, ex-The Sygnet, ex-Wild Axes) is involved in so many different outfits/projects all at once. Still, this is only my second time covering one of his acts. About the closest I've come to covering Beyrodt in the past has been with his part-time project Voodoo Circle (Where he showcases his love for the likes of Whitsnake, Rainbow and Deep Purple!), but I do know his name as it routinely pops up in heavy metal discussions. With Silent Force's last album, 2007's "Walk The Earth", having been recommended to me on more then one occasion in the past (See the earlier reference point to heavy metal discussions especially the sort involving good melodic metal bands to check out) I was a bit curious to hear what "Rising From The Ashes" would have in store for me. Now led by Michael Bormann (PowerWorld, Redrum, ex-TAX, ex-The Sygnet, ex-Biss, ex-Bloodbound, ex-Letter X, ex-Bonfire) the band also currently features Alex Beyrodt's Voodoo Circle band-mate Mat Sinner (also of Primal Fear and Sinner) on bass, keyboardist Alessandro Del Vecchio (Edge of Forever, Gianluca Ferro, Brunorock, Hardline, Moonstone Project, ex-Eden's Curse, ex-Fury N Grace, ex-Strings 24) and additional original member/drummer André Hilgers ( Lingua Mortis Orchestra, Rage, Sinner, ex-Ninja, ex-Nuclear Blast Allstars, ex-The Sygnet, ex-Universe, ex-Axxis, ex-Empire, ex-Razorback, ex-Vanize, ex-Mendacious Messiah, ex-Noisehunter (live), ex-Regicide (live), ex-Bourbon $treet). Replacing the well-traveled DC Cooper with someone like Michael Bormann sure sounds good on paper right? Well, it sounds even better in practice! And together with the exceptional guitar playing of Alex Beyrodt its a win-win combo. Although I'd hesitate to call this strictly melodic metal, which is how it was sold to me in the past, there is more then enough melodic merriment going on to appease fans of said genre. Given the call I would probably opt for "melodic power metal" instead, but even then there's more going on here then one mere title description could fully relay. But, that's neither here nor there so I'll just state the obvious. This is good, well-played and well-crafted, power metal that features enough melody to keep it grounded, but with its heavy "Let it rip fellas!" mentality you couldn’t reasonably expect to keep it grounded forever!