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RAISING FEAR ‘Mythos’ Dragonheart(2005)
Raising Fear...the name should already give you an idea of what you will hear when you buy this album, and you will, if you like American Power interspersed with blasts of German Power Metal. Think Grave Digger / Accept / Armored Saint and you will be on the way to appreciating the band’s style.
This collective hails from Italy and their love for history and the epic sound is translated into their first studio album, ‘Mythos’, which is the Greek word for myth or legend. The album lives up to its name by presenting a collection of songs on the subject of Mythological or Historical/ Legendary characters from different parts of the world. An interesting concept, and one which has already been explored similarly by Iced Earth on ‘Horror Show’, only this has a somewhat less sinister feel. When you listen to ‘Mythos’, you feel as if you are 12 years old again, reading the well-thumbed illustrated collection of Myths and Legends and it is precisely this ability to conjure up the fascinating epic feeling that seems to have attracted the attention of the recently acquired fans of this new band.
Mythos is a good combination of fast and mid-tempo songs, with ‘The Goddess’ probably being the only ballad. The interesting thing is that, each time I listen to the album, I find a different track to latch onto, which implies to me that there is more to ‘Mythos’ than you might originally suspect. I have narrowed it down to a few favourites, though: ‘Charon’, ‘The Goddess’ and ‘Gilgamesh’.
The production of the album is quite respectable, with recordings taking place in the Italian New Sin Studios. The album cover should also be mentioned: it may not be the best design the band could have chosen, but it does serve to convey the general feeling of the album. Plus, in the words of the band’s axeman, Yorick, ‘You should never judge a book by its cover’.
Raising Fear have managed to present an admirable effort in combining the abovementioned musical influences and to come up with their own interpretation of what proper Power Metal should sound like, Italian style. Hopefully, their next album will not be too long in the making…
***½
Review by Emily Dgebuadze
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