Style: Heavy Metal (clean vocals)
Review by: Callum
Country: Sweden
Release date: March 1, 2021
Judging by the colourful, retro-futuristic cover and jagged font, I was anticipating some progressive thrash akin to Vektor or Cryptic Shift. Instead, Colony is half 80s heavy metal, half progressive rock-opera. I’m a sucker for a good concept album and will hold my hands up and admit that sometimes I appreciate it when I don’t have to think too hard and an artist spoon feeds me the story in clearly discernible lyrics and tone shifts. Starscape do this almost too well; nary a metaphor is to be found, and each track title is basically a dead give away as to what’s going on in the story. Spoiler alert: “Pilgrims of the Stars” travel through “Interstellar” space to establish a “Colony” in “A New World” but then discover terrifying “Structures” that were “Not Built by Human Hands” so they flee the newly established colony to venture once more “Towards the Unknown”. I’m simplifying here, of course, but this still feels like a fairly overdone plot arc at this point in time. However, in keeping with the retro heavy metal aesthetic of decades past, Colony is a fun, easy-listen throwback to 80s sci-fi/fantasy epics.
Musically, there are a lot of parallels with early Iron Maiden. The faster paced guitar riffs employ a hefty amount of triplets, the drums gallop often, and there are some very Steve Harris bass lines notably at the beginning of the third and my personal favorite track, “Colony”. Slower, ominous riffs as in “Pilgrims of the Stars” and “Structures” also harken back to Black Sabbath or other doom metal precursors of the time. Then liberal use of organs and cowbells give an extra Deep Purple or Yes-style progressive spin on things. The music overall is not overly chaotic or technical, mostly just good old fashioned heavy metal. For the majority of the tracks, the riffs are diverse enough to keep things interesting all the way through, the transitions feel natural, and the solos are all good fun without the overuse of guitar harmonies. “Structures”, the only purely instrumental track, is entertaining but doesn’t add much that isn’t already included in the instrumental breaks in other tracks like “Not Built by Human Hands” and “Pilgrims of the Stars”. It’s largest purpose is to serve as a narrative transition, where the colonists have become insatiable, overindulging in the treasures found on their new planet, while the alien structures they stumble upon begin to spread a ‘darkness’ throughout the colony, forcing them to flee.
“A New World” is the only ballad-style track, and as such puts heavy focus on Per-Olof Göransson’s vocals. As this is an off-the-wall fantasy rock opera, over the top, theatrical vocals that slide blisteringly close to being cheesy are appropriate. Per-Olof doesn’t quite contend with the likes of Bruce Dickinson or Rob Halford, but his passion is perceptible in the audible strain he makes to just barely reach those top notes. In a way, this imperfection works in his favor as it gives him a fairly unique style in addition to some of the non-standard-heavy-metal pitch flicks, yells and grunts scattered here and there.
I hear just a few minor oversights in the production due to guitar strings ringing faintly during some of the tapped sections, but otherwise the album sounds like a true 80s heavy metal record and refreshingly not overly produced or compressed. The music does well to complement the fluctuating intensity in the narrative, which remains entertaining even if the lyrics are painfully literal, and I could barely keep my eyes from rolling out of my head at the ham-fisted final line “Where this aimless voyage will take the pilgrims next is a tale to be told another time”. Otherwise, I enjoy Colony as a fresh, progressive take on classic heavy metal, and I hope the duo that make up Starscape continue to innovate so that they don’t fall behind their contemporaries like Wytch Hazel, Hällas, and The Lord Weird Slough Feg.
Recommended tracks: Colony, Interstellar, Pilgrims of the Stars
Recommended for fans of: Iron Maiden, Yes, Hällas
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Starscape is:
– Per-Olof Göransson (vocals)
– Anton Eriksson (instruments)
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