RADICAL PEACE (NL+E)

Het zesde album van de melodieuze metalformatie Mob Rules is een aansprekend en typisch Duits metalalbum met pakkende refreinen, een klassieke inslag, heerlijk bombastisch toetsenwerk van Sascha Onnen en voortreffelijk, oorstrelend gitaarspel van Sven Lüdke en Matthias Mineur. De band doet de op het album Mob Rules van Black Sabbath gestoelde naam zeker eer aan, vooral de bezetting met Tony Martin klinkt door in de muziek terwijl de koortjes met de hoge derde stem erg aan Uriah Heep doen denken. Daarnaast kunnen Vanden Plas, de mooiere kant van Edguy en soms zelfs Pink Floyd als referenties dienen. De zang, vervormd op Trial By Fire, wordt verder uitstekend verzorgd door Klaus Dirks. Zijn heldere stem met de bekende gekunstelde langzame vibratie doet geregeld denken aan een kruising tussen de stemmen van Andy Küntz (Vanden Plas) en Tobias Sammet (Edguy) denken. De lange track The Oswald File bevat wat originele stukjes radiocommentaar ten tijde van Kennedy’s bezoek aan Dallas en vervolgens van het moment dat hij werd neergeschoten. Het zijn in elkaar overlopende stukjes muziek die smaakvol aaneen gesmeed zijn. Radical Peace is wat mij betreft het beste album van Mob Rules tot nu toe en vanwege het zwaar symfonische gehalte zeker een plek in iO Pages waardig. Ik ben geneigd om te zeggen dat Mob Rules de ongekroonde koning van de Duitse melodieuze symfonische metal is!

ENGLISH:

Mob Rules is a German melodic metal band. They already have recorded five albums, several EPs and a live DVD, so Radical Peace is their sixth studio album in just over ten years. They are a representative of the typical German way of playing metal, namely with a classical touch, beautiful melodies and bombastic orchestral arrangements. On the first track Children Of Flames you'll find a mixture of Uriah Heep and Deep Purple. Strong riffs, a slow catchy chorus with a July Morning-feel. The second track has a subtle opening with guitars and keyboards, then the same melody a bit higher with the full band and then the true nature of the beast comes out. Faster riffs like Black Sabbath and singer Klaus Dirks singing with a somewhat distorted voice. The chorus, sung with multiple layers of vocals, reminds me of Uriah Heep, especially the organ, the orchestrations and the high-pitched backing vocals sound similar. A nice duet on the guitars by Matthias Mineur and Sven Lüdke. Warchild is in the same vein. The fantastic and bombastic orchestral sounds as well as the piano and organ by keyboardist Sascha Ohnen can be heard in the more quiet pieces. They contribute to the powerful massive sound of this band. Vocalist Dirks sings the verses with his normal clear voice and also a backing vocal one octave lower. Sometimes he reminds me a bit of Andy Kuntz, the vocalist of German band Vanden Plas. The majestic slow finale is an exquisite spot for both the guitarists and drummer Nikolas Fritz to excel. From the same caliber is the next track Astral Hand, but a bit more up-tempo and again the choruses sound very much like Uriah Heep in their heydays with Ken Hensley and vocalist David Byron. The song has a tasteful acoustic ending. The highlight of this CD is The Oswald File, devided in six chapters. By the way, the whole band is credited together for all the compositions. The first chapter is an instrumental melodic metal piece in the vein of Mandrake by Edguy. The last part of this chapter, leading straight to chapter two, features the piano. The dark toned, firm bass-playing by Markus Brinkman supports the piano and drums, accompanying vocalist Dirks, until the heavy riffs take the verse onto the chorus with again beautiful close harmony singing. As well as the other choruses throughout the album, all are very suitable for singing or humming along. In between richly orchestrated ballad-like interludes. In chapter three, we hear newsflashes from the live broadcast at the time president John F. Kennedy was visiting Dallas. The accompanying music is well chosen and could have been a soundtrack. Memories of Pink Floyd arise hearing the acoustic guitars combined with orchestral sounds and (probably) bass pedals. The riffs and twin guitars in chapter four are in the vein of a more slow and melodic Edguy again, also there are newsflashes reporting the actual assassination of Kennedy. Delightful massive walls of sounds fade away and two acoustic guitars take over in chapter five, melodies and riffs of chapter two returning, with a heavenly bombastic finale. A mix between Black Sabbath with Tony Martin and Edguy can be found in the most up-tempo track Waiting For The Sun with again a nice duet between the two guitarists. The last track is a nice mixture between contemporaries Edguy with Uriah Heep.

Mob Rules proves yet once more they are the undisputed champions of slow melodic metal! The production side is well taken care of and in my opinion this is the best album by the band so far. You might go and see them live on tour or as support of Dio in the near future. Since this is a site dedicated to progressive rock, I feel I had to adjust my rating, but for me personally this a very solid album. However, it’s definitely more metal than progressive rock, but yes it is symphonic!