Vhäldemar - Metal of the World (Stormspell) 2011
1. River Of Blood (4:09)
2. Dusty Road (3:58)
3. Saints Of Hell (3:51)
4. Metal Of The World (3:49)
5. Wartime (3:39)
6. My Nightmare (4:16)
7. Wild Hearts (4:02)
8. Bastards (3:35)
9. Action (3:38)
10. Light & Darkness (4:43)
11. Arrows Flying High (4:15)
12. Bach's Invention [instrumental] (:44 )
13. Old King's Visions (III) (4:18)
Vhäldemar are a Spanish heavy metal band. Their sound often crosses into European power metal and speed metal terrain. In fact, if I hadn't looked on-line to see where this band was from, I would of assumed they were a German band. The band's sound echoes that of bands like Running Wild, Rage and Grave Digger. The Grave Digger connection is made even stronger because of vocalist Carlos Escudero who has a raspy, thrashy style of singing not unlike Chris Boltendahl. His voice is one of the things that initially attracted me to this band.
Musically, Vhäldemar have all the essentials of a quality power metal band; searing axe-work, quick double bass, memorable choruses that stick to your brain like glue and metal-on-metal, metal-forever and for-the-love-of-metal lyrics! Vhäldemar also knows how to mix up tempos from song to song so that the album doesn't get boring. As with any band of this nature, there are the ultra-fast songs, such as "Old King's Visions -III-" with almost inhuman double bass playing. However, they also allow for mid-paced and slower moments to give the songs interest. A song like "Bastards" is more mid-paced, but crushingly heavy with a nice crunchy riff and shout along chorus that most heavy metal fans will enjoy.
Vhäldemar definitely aren't trying to re-invent the wheel nor are they attempting to come up with some new, original sound. They take their influence from their Teutonic metal brothers and they wear it loud, proud and convincingly. If nothing else, they are passionate about what they do. "Metal of the World" is a record for heavy metal fans who love to sport an air guitar, shove their fists in the air and band their heads to some good quality heavy metal.
"Metal of the World" was originally released independently, but was picked up by Stormspell Records. As usual for anything on this independent label, the packaging is superb, from the cover art to the 16-page full color booklet. It's a limited edition run of only 1000 hand-numbered copies. Mine is 52/1000.