HEAVENLY - review added 30th November 2009
Album Review: Carpe Diem (2009)
For fans of: Flamboyant Metal... and Latin album titles
French band Heavenly - for this album Benjamin Sotto on vocals, Charley Corbiaux and Olivier Lapauze on guitar, Matthieu Plana on bass
and Thomas Das Neves on drums.- started out in 1994, although it was the turn of the century before their debut album, Coming From The Sky was released.
That first record was produced by Piet Sielck (Iron Savior) and featured a guest appearance by Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray and Helloween. They even toured with Symphony X, Stratovarius and Silent Force over the coming months...facts that suggest Heavenly was a pure power metal band in those early days...
Sign Of The Winner, Dust To Dust and Virus all followed over the next few years, leading us on to Carpe Diem, Heavenly's 5th album. The title may be Latin, but it's hard to know how to describe the contents of this record. Bits of it are power metal. Bits of it REALLY aren't. When you come down to it, Carpe Diem is bonkers with a capital wibble.
The title track kicks things off in strangely sane fashion. It's bloody heavy with massive pounding drums, dramatic singing and a serious bout of detuned guitar riffing...but it starts to slip when a small hint of North African chanting creeps into proceedings, then it goes even further into the land of jelly bears and flying purple pigs when the theme music from Fame starts. Before you know it, however, matters get back on track with a return to metal, and you sit there wondering if you really did hear an odd interpretation of the old Irene Cara song.
'Lost In Your Eyes' is reasonably normal. It's a good track that sits somewhere between Helloween and Dragonforce. Sadly, or brilliantly depending on your outlook, this is the end of the album's 'normality'...
'Farewell' will make you stop whatever you are doing and stare in disbelief at your stereo. The start features Benjamin Sotto unleashing some VERY falsetto vocals. Then, abruptly, the album turns into a...Queen-fest. There's big Brian May guitars, pianos, monster harmonies, you name it. If you'd asked me the last thing I expect from a power metal album, sounding like a theatrical take on Queen would be up there with tunes about gardening and accountancy.
Is it any good? Er, yes, it's brilliant. This is proper top end music. The singing is superb, the musicianship excellent, the composition off the scale. I can't for the life of me find out who plays piano on the track but, whoever it is, they are awesome.
'Full Moon' is 3/4 speedy metal, 1/4 flamboyance. It's a good track, if a little 'normal' after the previous one. 'A Better Me' is back on the Queen wagon with a huge theatrical production that wouldn't be out of place on Broadway. It's just an incredible song. No, not everybody is going to like it but you can't escape the excellence of the playing and the sheer balls behind the writing. 'Ashen Paradise' then comes along and makes the previous track sound staid and introverted. It's 1/2 thrash, 1/2 power metal, 3/4 filmscore and 2/7 lunatic asylum. It's such a massive track there's no way the components add up to a mere '1'.
'The Face Of Truth' is a heavy little number that builds slowly on a foundation of rumbling bass and symphonic mystique. Again, it's utterly brilliant, musical-esque and has rhythms that'll send shivers down your naughty parts. 'Ode To Joy' really is based around the music (from Beethoven's 9th symphony) to the German poem 'Ode To Joy'. Okay, the lyrics have changed, but you will know the tune when you hear it. Final entry 'Save Our Souls' is almost sane when you compare it to the tracks before it. All is relative though.
Yep, love this album. I have no idea what the other Heavenly releases sound like as I've never come across the group before. If they sound anything like this they are going to be awesome. Carpe Diem is one of the best and most interesting albums I've heard for a long time. I often moan about albums being a bit samey. This couldn't get any less samey if featured a song by a platoon of orchestral zebras. Utterly brilliant.
Check out... The saucy artwork...and all of the music.
Track List:
01. Carpe Diem
02. Lost In Your Eyes
03. Farewell
04. Full Moon
05. A Better Me
06. Ashen Paradise
07. The Face Of Truth
08. Ode To Joy
09. Save Our Souls
Label: AFM Records
Artist's website(s): Heavenly , MySpace
