Label: Frontiers 2015
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
"Rising from the ashes a dark messenger of sorrow. I'm the Stormcrow. I'm your woe". Former Sonata Artica guitarist and overall mastermind and main songwriter of Cain's Offering. Jani Liimatainen is the name and bombastic, fantastic, symphonic, melodic, power metal, no doubt his favorite game.
Shell shocked by the opening tracks off their sophomore release and it's full marks to the title track with its highly technical structure and orchestral arrangement. The next following dance and song number, "The Best Of Times", another massive hit to the body and it feels like if you've been going the full distance and ten rounds with Mike Tyson.
Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius) behind the mic as always, but it's the addition of keyboardist Jens Johansson (Silver Mountain, Yngwie Malmsteen, Stratovarius) that really gets this all-star project ticking like a Swiss clock (or the bomb in the hands of the barking mad Power Metal terrorist? too much?). It's one sweeping run of speedy fingers after the other and the interludes of ebony/ivory vs. the stings of Liimatainen are impressive to say the least.
What about the things that clearly will not stand the test of time? One thing's for sure. Power ballads are not supposed to mimic the soundtrack of Titanic or your Russian contender from the Eurovision song contest for that matter. Remarkable bland and boring, "Too Tired To Run" and "On The Shore", goes straight to the bin. Low points elsewhere range from the slightly below average work of "My Heart Beats For No One", to "Rising Sun", with its one dimension style and repetition of previous tracks.
Final verdict: Starting out like a proper slugger, "Stormcrow", may just lack the stamina and moves to go the full distance. Watch out for the killer hook(s) at the beginning. Still worthy of your attention though?
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