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Nowadays I think it's more and more difficult to find some fresh and original bands in the field of extreme metal or even heavy metal in general. Maybe you've already noticed this... But on the other hand it's something I can understand since the old big dawgs already built the whole basis of everything and it's kind of tricky to get away from these foundations a little bit, and try to forget these references for a while to create something new.
What we get with the third release of Powers Court is really interesting since it's very hard to quote one clear influence out from their music. After having plaid The Red Mist of Endenmore for several weeks now, I think I can say this album lies basically at the border of three styles: heavy metal, extreme metal and atmospheric metal. The first one because of the epic dimension of The Red Mist of Endenmore. This is indeed a concept album based upon a story by Danie Powers, vocalist, guitarist and apparently leader of Powers Court. The whole story is basically about black magic, sorcery and slaughters involving a female character. This is not the most important point here but still Danie put apparently a real effort on the writing of the lyrics. The vocals from times to times remind us that there's a heavy metal touch in Powers Court music (Cold Day in Hell has some strong Iron Maiden accents) but after all, we get nothing more from this style.
The extreme metal part is not easy to notice at the beginning. But when you keep on listening to the CD, it becomes more and more obvious. First the production is for me old school death metal relevant. The guitar riffs remind me also the old Death masterpieces like Symbolic or Human. It's really fast and brash along with some few slower parts: saturated arpeggios, palm muted heavy riffs including powerful artificial harmonics for instance. I especially like Power Tapestry: you get a huge amount of Schuldiner like riffs full of harmonics there. But The Tarot Reader with its wild start and the very efficient Outrage must be my two favourite tracks from The Red Mist of Endenmore.
The bass guitar playing by Steve Murray is also very accurate and I dare to make a comparaison with Steve Digiorgio. I also like very much the appropriate drumming by Daniel Nydick even though that sounds slightly too electronic and unhuman in a way: if it had been programmed, I wouldn't have noticed any difference actually. So yes, it's lacking some emotions and maybe a little bit of groove according to me. Nevertheless it's really pure and very well done technically speaking. Eventually, on a few parts (Vain Regrets), clean guitar parts supporting deep vocals arranged with reverberation can recall atmospheric bands like Tristania.
But there's all the time something very personal with Powers Court music. There may also be different ways to see things. Several interpretations of Powers Court art are possible I guess. This is an evidence that Powers Court music is rich and original but at the same time strongly consistent.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Ab Initio |
| 2. The Prophecy |
| 3. Power Tapestry |
| 4. A Somber Day |
| 5. Kingdom Falls |
| 6. Darkness Calls |
| 7. The Tarot Reader |
| 8. Outrage |
| 9. The Red Mist Of Endenmore |
| 10. There Once Was A Time |
| 11. Vain Regrets |
| 12. Cold Day In Hell (Bonus Track) |
: 43.23
| Buy other Powers Court albums |
