Review
Raintime released one of my favorite power metal albums back in 2007, so I'm not quite sure why it's taken me so long to get around to reviewing their latest, Psychromatic. As always, their signature sound is a unique blend of power metal, melodic death metal, and progressive metal--sort of a combination of Rhapsody of Fire, Soilwork, and Dream Theater.
The guitars hover on the border between melo-death and the heavy end of power metal. The keyboards sound a lot like any other power metal band that uses them, but they never get excessive (they get their due on the synth-driven, soft track "Shift"). The drums are powerful, and at times can get very aggressive (see "Beaten Roads"). But there are still some problems with this record.
The vocals are both sung and growled, but this time around the singing voice seems rather thin. Maybe we could chalk that up to production, as overall it seems a tad flat. That's no excuse for the weaker growls, though. The track list seems to bend more toward ballads--"I Want to Remember" and "Fake Idols" are all-out ballads, but many more songs have ballad tendencies--so much of the power seems to be sucked out of their power metal. This is made worse by the fact much of the softer stuff is toward the front of the list. Still, the Raintime I know is present later, with "Beaten Roads", "One Day", and "Buried in You" being shining examples.
They've also included a lot of variety, including a dance-style beat and a heavy breakdown on "Turned Up and Down", and going epic on album closer "Walk-on Actor".
The Verdict: Raintime has suffered some serious lineup problems of late, including the loss of both guitarists. Whether that's cause or symptom of the problem, it's evidence this was not their finest hour. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
Sounds pretty interesting. I might seek these guys out.
ReplyDeleteI would go with Flies & Lies if you do. It's very, very good.
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