Melodic metal: When your band is too heavy for AOR, but too slick and polished for traditional metal. I have to print this definition for our American readers, because here in the good ol’ US of A, this subgenre is all but non-existent. Europe, on the other hand, has been a breeding ground for these bands for decades. While they go virtually unnoticed on this side of the Atlantic, they dominate both the charts and festivals of their homeland. One such band is Crystal Ball. Hailing from Switzerland, Crystal Ball has been at it for 24 years. Their latest album, Crysteria, is their 12th.
Needless to say, these guys aren’t rookies. When you’ve been in the game for as long as Crystal Ball has, you’ve got the creative process down to a science. This isn’t a band struggling to find their way through the wilderness, suffering from one identity crisis after the other. No, this is a band who knows what they like and follow through with it. In their case, it’s uplifting songs that combine the burning passion of 80s AOR with the fighting spirit of power metal. And if you don’t like it, tough. They’ve done it anyways.
It’s this attitude which powers Crysteria through its first half. Cuts like “What Part of No”, “You Lit My Fire”, and “Undying” are hard and heavy rockers with mystique and swagger. They boast killer melodies, pristine musicianship, and a retro production straight out of ’88. The band’s reliance on dramatic riffing and nostalgic synths recall Odyssey era Joe Lynn Turner, or a heavier Treat, the latter being the case on the title track. One thing’s for certain: This could only be the product of a European band, and I say that with the highest regard.
Unfortunately, things start to feel a bit harried by the second half. It starts out strong with the Foreigner meets Scorpions hybrid “Make My Day” and victorious power metal rager “No Limits”. Then we’re given a batch of songs that are formulaic at best, and cringeworthy at worst. “Draw the Line” is inoffensive for the most part, but by now we’ve heard these arrangements performed one way or another 8 times. The same can be said for “Sole Conviction” and “Crystal Heart”, the latter being a duo with German melodic metallers Jaded Heart. But there is no greater infraction on here than “Loins of Fire”: A song who despite its AOR prowess, contains lyrics and a title more fitting of a Steel Panther song. Perhaps that’s what Crystal Ball was going for?
Here again is an album that, if you just “trimmed the fat” down to 8 or 9 songs, would be great, perhaps even excellent. The age old label practice of “filling the CD” almost never works. If anything, it dilutes the product further. I feel like I was just talking about this last week. Oh wait, I was. A fourth of the album being missteps aside, Crysteria is bound to satisfy old school metalheads and AOR aficionados alike. If you fall into both categories, such as myself, it’s all the better.
6 out of 10
Label: Massacre Records
Genre: Melodic Heavy Metal
For fans of: Yngwie Malmsteen, Place Vendome, Treat