|
Masterstroke - As Days Grow Darker
Reviewed by AJ Blisten in 3/29/2009
MASTERSTROKE from Finland, the land of thousand lakes and quite a few good hard rock and metal bands, is back with a new full length album.
"As Days Grow Darker" is the band's third full length album after the started to pursue this hard rock adventure back in 2002.
The music is still melodic and heavy and a bit NWOBHM, if I dare so…
Not exactly my cup of tea when it comes to music, but I've been in this game a long time and I think I can tell what's good and what sucks when it comes to hard rock and metal.
MASTERSTROKE does not belong in the latter group.
The Finnish quartet knows what they do and how to do it. This is a good band, no doubt about that although they don't reinvent anything. Which means that the songs are a bit anonymous and lacks the little extra as far as creative expression goes.
The vocals lack a personal touch as well and the whole MASTERSTROKE package has a tendency to sound pretty much like a lot of other melodic hard rock bands out there.
But there is still this x-factor present and well expressed in several songs on "As Days Grow Darker". I like this x-factor and find myself listening to this album again even though it's not exactly my kind of hard rock. Maybe it's the female vocals in some of the songs or maybe it's the powerful guitar sound and tight riffs?
No matter what it is; I like this album. The songs are melodic and straight forward and pretty predictable, but still have this little extra.
|
|
