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│ METAL CLASSICS ARCHIVE │
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│ P R E S E N T S │
│ │
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│ + Crystal Ball - Time Walker + │
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│╔═════════════════════╗ │
│║ Release Information ║ │
│╠═════════════════════╩══════════════════════════════════════════╗ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Release Date.Sep-11-2014 Encoder......L3.97 -V2 --vbr-new ║ │
│║ Genre........Hard Rock Graber.......EAC ║ │
│║ Year.........2005 Khz/Bitrate..44,1/ Br ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Ripper.......anthem Songs........12 ║ │
│║ Covers.......Yes Url... www.crystal-ball.ch ║ │
│║ ║ │
│╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ │
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│╔═════════════════════╗ │
│║ Release Notes ║ │
│╠═════════════════════╩══════════════════════════════════════════╗ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Artist : Crystal Ball Rating : You Decide! ║ │
│║ Album : Time Walker Label : Nuclear Blast ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ ║ │
│╠════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Description : ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Power metal can be a funny thing. Sometimes a ║ │
│║ band claiming to be "power metal" actually plays ║ │
│║ music closer to heavy or thrash metal. Or, in ║ │
│║ Crystal Ball's case, hard rock. Contain your ║ │
│║ gasps of surprise! Crystal Ball is more of a ║ │
│║ hard rock band than anything else, resulting in ║ │
│║ an album full of poppy catchiness and lacking ║ │
│║ the common tropes of the power metal genre. This ║ │
│║ should not come as a surprise, since the band ║ │
│║ themselves strictly call their style "hard rock" ║ │
│║ in all of their literature. I have to say I ║ │
│║ agree with their assessment! ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ This is not a concept album. Not even in the ║ │
│║ vaguest sense. The songs are all based around a ║ │
│║ single chunk of lame subject matter, whether ║ │
│║ that's the Berlin Wall, Lindbergh's solo flight ║ │
│║ over the Atlantic, or the meteorologists who fly ║ │
│║ planes into hurricanes. I guess, with five ║ │
│║ previous full-length albums hung up on the wall, ║ │
│║ there wasn't much left for the band to sing ║ │
│║ about. The lyrics are predictably simple, with ║ │
│║ few metaphors or other fancy linguistic ║ │
│║ constructs. It's also funny to note that, in ║ │
│║ each song, the chorus is based around the title ║ │
│║ of that song. So when "Tear Down the Wall" ║ │
│║ starts playing through your speakers, and you ║ │
│║ want to sing along, it's a pretty safe bet to ║ │
│║ just start yelling the title of the song when it ║ │
│║ sounds like the chorus is about to start. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ Speaking of singing along, you might end up ║ │
│║ doing that quite a bit during a playthrough of ║ │
│║ this album. The songs are catchy - too catchy. ║ │
│║ Power metal is often deemed catchy, but it's ║ │
│║ only catchy relative to other subgenres of ║ │
│║ metal; compared to popular music, power metal is ║ │
│║ complicated and esoteric. Not so with this ║ │
│║ album; if you took out the guitars (or made ║ │
│║ their tone less heavy) and made the vocalist a ║ │
│║ little less hard-edged, you would have a pop- ║ │
│║ rock album. The vocal lines are simple and ║ │
│║ hummable, the drummer plays insultingly basic ║ │
│║ rock beats, and the riffs only occasionally end ║ │
│║ up evoking heaviness. Only when the band ║ │
│║ introduces some double-bass drumming and fast ║ │
│║ guitars do I really get excited by the music: ║ │
│║ the song "Fallen from Grace" has a rollicking ║ │
│║ keyboard lead and some crunchy riffs that ║ │
│║ wouldn't be out of place on a Mob Rules album. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ There are solos, but they are usually gone ║ │
│║ before you realize that they've started. These ║ │
│║ songs are too compact, and too straightforward, ║ │
│║ for shredding guitar to have a place in them, so ║ │
│║ you are treated to eight bars of slow soloing ║ │
│║ before the band goes back to business. In ║ │
│║ general, there are very few surprises to be ║ │
│║ discovered in this album; verse-chorus-verse- ║ │
│║ chorus-"break-with-maybe-a-solo"-chorus is the ║ │
│║ only structure that the band is familiar with. ║ │
│║ Keyboards often make their presence felt, and ║ │
│║ you might think that this additional layer of ║ │
│║ sound would provide some interest, but the keys ║ │
│║ break free of the "backing-instrument" role, so ║ │
│║ we get a lot of wavery Hammond-organ-sounding ║ │
│║ stuff but not a lot of real substance. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ The high point of this band would probably be ║ │
│║ the vocalist, Mark Sweeney. His voice is suited ║ │
│║ perfectly for this type of music: it's forceful ║ │
│║ and features just the perfect amount of ║ │
│║ grittiness. Not a voice hardened by decades of ║ │
│║ chain-smoking, but also not one that just ║ │
│║ plopped out of a church choir either. Too bad ║ │
│║ that the lyrics he's singing are so juvenile. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ I honestly can't compare this band to many other ║ │
│║ bands, since I am not very familiar with hard ║ │
│║ rock as a genre. You could look to some of the ║ │
│║ big-name hard rock bands like Scorpions or ║ │
│║ Dokken as influences for Crystal Ball, as well ║ │
│║ as the German heavy metal scene (featuring such ║ │
│║ oddly-named bands as Custard, Chinchilla, and ║ │
│║ Pump). Overall, Crystal Ball's sound can be ║ │
│║ simply described as power metal, stripped- and ║ │
│║ watered-down to the point where it is just ║ │
│║ heavier-than-average rock. It's very catchy and ║ │
│║ fun, but I'm not a fan. The few glimpses of real ║ │
│║ metal that we get on this album are just too ║ │
│║ tantalizing, and it lessens the effect of the ║ │
│║ rest of the songs. And then there's a Britney ║ │
│║ Spears cover at the end. That says it all. ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ ║ │
│║ ║ │
│╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ │
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│╔═════════════════════╗ │
│║ Release Tracklist ║ │
│╚═════════════════════╩══════════════════════════════════════════ │
│ │
│ 01 - Digital World [04:31] │
│ 02 - Tear Down The Wall [03:19] │
│ 03 - He Came To Change The World [03:37] │
│ 04 - Walk Through Time [05:12] │
│ 05 - Mozart Symphony [04:54] │
│ 06 - Powerflight [03:58] │
│ 07 - Fallen From Grace [03:53] │
│ 08 - Celebration [04:09] │
│ 09 - Sensational [03:27] │
│ 10 - The Eye Of The Storm [04:03] │
│ 11 - Talking To The Walls [03:23] │
│ 12 - Crazy (Bonus Track) [03:11] │
│ │
│ Total Length : [47:37 minn │
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│ ╔═════════════════════╗ │
│ ║ Greetings To: ║ │
│ ╚═════════════════════╝ │
│ │
│ Too all people who contributes to make this │
│ archive of good music in a exceptional conditions │
│ │
│ │
│ │
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