An exhilarating, high-powered, metal avenger
"Heroes" is the incredible new studio album from Italian power metal band Arthemis. Made up of vocalist Fabio D, guitarist and vocalist Andy, bassist and vocalist Damian and drummer Conrad, the band formed in Verona back in 1994 and have released 6 studio albums in Europe.
The front cover of the accompanying booklet for "Heroes" (which is designed like a comic book) sums up the album beautifully - "An exhilarating, high-powered, metal avenger" – couldn't have put it better myself! Featuring biting lyrics that are sung by powerful, soaring vocals with astoundingly tight guitar melodies in accompaniment, the Italians blow the listener away from the very first track. I was rather surprised that the lyrics were so clear and easy to understand as this isn't a feat achieved very often, even by vocalists with English as their native tongue; Fabio D achieves it with seemingly little effort.
My favourite track on the album was 'Crossfire', which, despite being the shortest track on the album, managed to squeeze in the most intricate instrumental melodies. The tapping drum beat intertwined with the jagged guitar shredding and ever-so-steady pounding bass left me dumbfounded – no words will ever come close to describing how impressed I was, so I'll leave that one as a simple "wow". The only other tracks that came close to impressing me as much as this were 'This is Revolution' for the outstanding vocal performance, which will literally stop you dead in your tracks, and also final track 'Road to Nowhere', with its military-style drum beat, which finishes the album on a terribly moreish, suspenseful vibe – I can't get enough of Arthemis and will definitely be looking for their previous albums!
Having played Bloodstock, Hammerfest, Hellfire Festival, Hard Rock Hell and Dean Guitars DOA over the last 2 years alone, the future is looking incredibly bright for the veteran power metal band. I was lucky enough to catch Arthemis' performance at Hammerfest II, where they impressed the crowd and secured themselves a place on my favourites list; I hope I manage to catch a live performance of theirs again in the future.
"Heroes" is definitely one of the best metal albums I've heard in a long time and further proof that Europe do it so much better than Great Britain – come on lads, whatever happened to Great British Heavy Metal!?
For further information about Arthemis, please check out the band's Myspace: www.myspace.com/arthemisweb.