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Reviews from Utopian Void

Ueberrock and Rocka Rolla Reviews 08.07.14 - Posted in Utopian Void reviews

Check out the Review of England's Uberrock:

Musically, it's flawless: Julmy's vocals are rich and resonant, soaring with the grace of an eagle over the solid rhythms of drummers Al Spicher and Jan Zweibel and bassist Adriano Troiano, who has a style which is very much akin to that of Steve Harris! The twin guitarists of Alain Curty and Christof Schafer are as effective as any operating in this style of music, switching neatly between crunching riffs and massive melodies, with some pretty impressive solos thrown along the way.

http://www.uberrock.co.uk/cd-reviews/27-july-cd/11626-distant-past-utopian-void-self-released.html

And here's one from Rocka Rolla of Buenos Aires:

Distant Past enrich their musical discourse with different syles. In particular show a predilection for high speeds, or even some dissonance like Pantera, as heard in "On the Edge" but generally what prevails on songs like "A Day Of Darkness", "Sceptre", "Faces "or    "Helpless ", are the" maidenized"Parts . And to their credit they do no wrong. The instrumentally trained singer plays quite well in the role of Bruce Dickinson.

http://rockarollazine.blogspot.com.ar/2014/07/distant-past-utopian-void-2014-pure.html

They say that you should never judge a book by its cover: does the same rule apply to bands? Because, to be brutally honest, this Swiss combo well and truly live up to their name, as their sound is so stuck in the Diamond Head style of NWOBHM that you have to blow three decades of dust off its cover before extracting the CD from within...

 

Now, that's not to condemn the album or be unnecessarily negative in critiquing this second full-length offering from DP, who are now fronted by veteran power metal vocalist Jvo Julmy (the singer's first recorded outing since the dissolution of his earlier project, Emerald, back in 2007), as, actually, it's not a bad album - and, in fact, as it progesses and you listen to it more (most reviewers listen to anything at least three times before commiting their humble words to the computer screen), it's quite a good listen, being what it is...

 

In addition to Diamond Head, other influences which are very obvious include 'Powerslave'-era Maiden (check out 'Kingdom Of Shadows' or 'The Hell Of Verdun' to see what we mean), classic Queensryche (as on 'Sceptre' or 'Helpless') and early Helloween (again, opener 'A Day Of Darkness' or 'On The Edge' very much plough this furrow): not a bad background to mine, and DP do it with efficiency and aplomb.

 

Musically, it's flawless: Julmy's vocals are rich and resonant, soaring with the grace of an eagle over the solid rhythms of drummers Al Spicher and Jan Zweibel (who both contribute to the album, although the latter has taken over from the former as the band's full time sticksman) and bassist (and band mastermind) Adriano Troiano, who has a style which is very much akin to that of Steve Harris! The twin guitarists of Alain Curty and Christof Schafer are as effective as any operating in this style of music, switching neatly between crunching riffs and massive melodies, with some pretty impressive solos thrown along the way.

 

The songs are thoughtfully constructed, giving the right balance between power and melody, light and shade to draw the listener in to the three-quarters of an hour so of its listening experience and leave a relatively satisfied customer possibly wanting to return for more at some stage in the future...

 

If you like classically-infused power metal of the sort delivered by the mighty Stormzone or Agincourt, then this is an album well worth checking out.

 

La portada de este disco es muy sugerente. Hace pensar de inmediato en aquellas bandas hard sinfónicas que pululaban por los 80’s en UK y Europa, caso Eloy, Magnum, Marillion sobretodo (ese bufón que preside la escena!!!). Pero estamos en los años que estamos y debemos pensar en otro tipo de influencias. Heavy metal técnico, elaborado y eso si con algunos guiños sinfónicos, debemos pensar en otras cosas: Dream Theather, Helloween por ejemplo y por encima de todo, Iron Maiden. La Doncella de Hierro parece ser el norte musical de estos suizos, y de ella encontrarás recuerdos en todos los cortes de este disco.
Cierto es que Distant Past enriquecen su discurso con otras hierbas musicales. En especial demuestran cierta predilección por las altas velocidades, o incluso por alguna disonancia a lo Pantera, como se oye en “On the Edge”, pero en general lo que predomina en temas como “A day Of Darkness”, “Sceptre”, “Faces” o  “Helpless”, que es el “maidenazo” con todas las de la ley. Y hay que reconocérselo; no lo hacen mal. Están capacitados instrumentalmente y su cantante se mete bastante bien en el papel de Bruce Dickinson. Su problema estriba precisamente en que el público tome su propuesta con buenos ojos.
Porque no es mal material. Se les podría echar en cara que con esos desarrollos los temas quedan dispersos, pero yo  no lo haré. Creo que su publico potencial puede apreciar lo que hacen.
Es cierto que  en ocasiones, como en “Breath” la sensación puede ser mejorable, pero también perdonable. Son un grupo joven que puede depurar su estilo y hacerlo mas personal.
“Signs of the end” me ha hecho gracia, con un leve giro en su estilo podran sonar mas comerciales, tal vez como una especie de Avenged Sevenfold europeos, pero su amor por el sonido clásico no admite sobornos.
“The hell of Verdun”, (resalto este tema no porque me parezca especial, es mas bien lo contrario) pero un tema dedicado a las guerras mundiales parece otra de las marcas de fabrica de Maiden, será algo inconsciente.
El solemne “Touched by the gods” que cierra el disco les reafirma en su sonido. Si la portada te gusta y la sabes interpretar no te defraudara el contenido.