METALIUM – Hero Nation – Chapter Three

I must say I am a bit disappointed. Not because the band now lacks Savatage guitar players (Jack Frost and original member Chris Caffery both left to focus more on the ‘tage) – I never saw any of them as creative minds behind Metalium anyway. Metalium is by far Lars Ratz’ creation and baby, and along with guitar player Matthias Lange and top notch singer Henning Basse, they simply are the “core members” of the band. But back to my point, I am disappointed. Why? The songwriting is simply not at all as good as on the first two chapters. The first two records have a few stunning headbanger favorites as well as very good power ballads. Chapter three has the headbanger factor intact, but the brilliance of it is too similar to prior work. On the other hand, I don’t want to accuse Lars Ratz for repeating himself too much, as “Hero Nation” sees the band move into a darker and more atmospheric direction. “Odin’s Spell” is by far my favorite song, a kind of mid-tempo song that Metalium hasn’t done before. Henning delivers what’s expected from him, and I must add that the production is very good. My only issue is, as I said, the songwriting. Don Airey and Ken Hensley appear as guest, and Ozzy fans will have no problem to spot when Airey presses the keys… However, I will take the opportunity to say that I respect what Metalium does. The band dares to stick its head out in a genre where most bands play safe. The visual aspect is important, and like it or not, their image makes them stand out. I wouldn’t mind if more bands had the guts to create their own visual image.