There is a saying "better late than never" and with that in mind I present my review of Heavatar's debut album Opus 1: All My Kingdoms, enjoy!
Now any experienced metal head (or any who watched the documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, and if you haven't seen that movie find a way to watch it right after you finish reading this post!) will know that metal takes influences from classical music. To name a couple of examples; guitarist Randy Rhodes was said to be a huge fan of classical music, and the famous introduction to the Black Sabbath song "Black Sabbath" is taken right from the Mars movement of Holsts' The Planets. There is also the example of bands such as The Human Abstract who decided to take Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and do a metal cover of it (all three movements not just the first) and the band Pergamum who's song "Classical Metal X" is a medley of famous classical compositions.
Heavatar takes this one step further and has presented the listener a full album where 8 of the 9 songs on it are influence by classical compositions one way or another. What was even more helpful was the booklet that came with the album tells you what classical composition the Heavatar song is taking its influence from.
Opus 1: All My Kingdoms starts off with the lead single "Replica" and it was a great song to start off the album with because not only is it an extremely catchy song, but it is the song that best showcases the band's mission. "Replica" takes its influence from the Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (probably my favorite classical composition). Heavatar not only takes the main melody as their own, but Stefan wrote lyrics and melody to go along with Bach's original melody. Now even though the song may borrow Bach's melody at certain times, the song is not entirely Bach's composition played on guitars and with original lyrics sung over it, Heavatar takes Bach's composition and combines it with their own original lyrics and melodies to create power metal that is unlike anything currently slaying dragons in the power metal scene today.
Not all the songs on All My Kingdoms are as obvious as "Replica" with their classical influences. The second song, "Abracadabra" takes its guitar solo from one of Paganini's compositions, I would not have known this if it wasn't for a video of Stefan explaining all the tracks on the album. The fact that Abracadabra's influence is not as obvious as "Replica" (to be fair none of them are as obvious as "Replica") does not take away from the song. Every time I listen to "Abracadabra" I imagine a huge crowd of people at some big open air festival (Waken maybe?) jumping in unison to the catchy chorus.
Another example of songs not being obvious with their influences is "Elysium at Dawn". The booklet says that it takes its influence from Beethoven's Fur Elise and I was expecting to hear the familiar melody clearly in the song. But Heavatar is a kind group and doesn't bludgeon you over the head with the melody, instead they hid it in a melodic passage between verse and chorus. It took my 5th listen to (I think) to finally find there they had hid it and when I did I felt like the smartest human being alive. The fact that Heavatar did not make it so obvious adds to the overall character of the song and shows just how original Heavatar is as a band.
My favorite song on the album though has to be "Long Way Home", although it is one of the slower songs on the album, it is by far the catchiest and the most epic song on All My Kingdoms. After I had listened to the album a few times I went back and watched Stefan talking about the album again. He said that on this song he enlisted the help of some of his fellow Van Cantians (?) to sing the chorus. The result is amazing and inspirational. The huge choir sound Heavatar creates invokes the image of a soldier on a long journey eagerly wanting to return home as he ventures through the dense wilderness of the Heavatar fantasy land (it is also a great song to listen to on a long plane ride if you are coming home for a break). After one play through of "Long Way Home" the listener will immediately hit replay again and start singing along with the chorus every time it comes around.
The only song on All My Kingdoms that does not take influence from a classical piece is the last one "To the Metal". In his video description, Stefan did not say anything about this song because he wanted it to be a suprise but in essence what it is is a song about being a metal head and it pays tribute to all the bands who have influenced Stefan as a musician. I will admit this song did take me a while to get used to, but after a few listens I can honestly say that I really like this song. Anyone who is a metal head can identify with some of the things Stefan is singing about. For me it was when he talked about people telling him to stop listening to metal because it may be childish or immature, but Stefan didn't care, he likes the metal and nothing was going to stop him from listening to it. That is the way I feel about metal music as well, it will be with me for as long as I live.
Overall Opus 1: All My Kingdoms is a treat. The songs are as catchy and epic as the one that came before it and I can honestly say that there is not a bad song on the album. Although some of the songs are not as obvious as to their classical influences, the songs are all unique and will satisfy listeners to no end. All My Kingdoms will have listeners constantly hitting the replay button or queuing up their favorite tracks from the album to listen to again and again. Its an album that has staying power and one that fans will be coming back to for a long time.
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
Thanks guys!
-Zach
Don't forget if there is an album you want me to review or an artist you want me to talk about leave a comment below or tweet me @zachktheanimal.
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