SCELERATA - review added 23rd February 2009
Album Review: Skeletons Domination (2008)
For fans of: power metal... and a small portion of symphonic opulence
Brazilian band Scelerata unleashed their debut album, Darkness And Light, in 2006. I haven't yet had chance to cross paths with it, so have instead come to Skeletons Domination, their second full length release.
The band's style is rooted in that middle ground between power and speed metal... under a sunset of symphonic majesty. If you took Dragonforce, Edguy and Stratovarius and locked them in a box, the result would be this. The guitars and drumming are fast, the bass pounds and grinds like a fat dinosaur jogging and the vocals come across with a regal and, er, ultrasonic gait.
First track, 'Enemy Within' and the final track 'Forever And Ever' are comfortably the best on the album. Containing compulsive choruses and huge sounds, the songs gets Skeletons Domination off to a knicker-pinging start and a dramatic finish.
Somewhere in the middle lurks the monster ballad 'Close To Move Mountains'. It is, in places, stunning and boasts harmonies you could take home and introduce to your parents. In other parts the song sounds as enticing as a wild boar with itchy haemorrhoids.
In theory, when you sit bit and look at the respective parts that make up this album, the end result should be fantastic. Carl Casagrande has the archetypal (if occasionally off-key) screaming metal voice, and some of the musicianship is breathtaking. You can't take anything away from the band in this area. Performance wise, they are almost up there with the best.
Unfortunately, it's in the songwriting and composition areas in which Scelerata trips over and bumps its nose. The band's work is nowhere near the brown end of the cesspit, but there is a noticeable lean towards unoriginality. Most of the music has been heard before with a lot more style and substance. Skeletons Domination is an intriguing listen, and it would be unfair to describe it as bad - it isn't, in fact it's worthy of several listens - but in the end Scelerata have come to a Formula 1 race driving last year's model.
Check out... The French influences in the final track - they sound astonishingly good.
Track List:
1. Enemy Within
2. Spiritual Path
3. Leave Me Alone
4. Surrender
5. Close to Move Mountains
6. The Turn
7. Cancer
8. Phoenix Tales
9. Bad Dreams
10. Regret
11. Forever and Ever
Label: Nightmare Records
Artist's websites: Scelerata , MySpace
