MASTERCASTLE – On Fire

Lion Music 2013

MASTERCASTLE - On Fire

MASTERCASTLE – On Fire

Five years into their existence, the Italian brigade burn the charge bright and heavy.

It started as a concept album, yet this foursome’s fourth record has quickly widened its lyrical span, while retaining the brace on the metal both thematically and stylistically. So much for solidity and reinvention, it’s an alchemically pure heavy assault on one ears – highly melodic and quite playful, if the streamlined “The Final Battle”, a take on Chris Hülsbeck’s minor classic from the “Turrican” video game, is anything to go by.

Expanding the scale, Pier Gonella’s classically-minded guitars pitch a symphonic sting from “Silver Eyes” on to sign off with a Beethoven cover on “Almost A Fantasy”, and when Giorgia Gueglio follows the Doro path, like in “Chains” with its catchy chorus, the songs hit all the right spots, stoked with John Macaluso’s drums. The band’s emotional strain peaking with the speedy “Quicksilver” and coming down with a quite predictable slo-mo of “Gold Violet”, their synthesizers-abetted swirl turns futuristic in “Leaden Roads”, which gains a danceable groove as it progresses towards “I don’t give a shit” claim chimed into the “Titanium Wings” infectious riffing.

A firm, flaming stance in the face of pointless change – brazenly good.

***

July 23, 2013

Category(s): Reviews
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