FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH – Love Letdown

Fountain Of Youth is a young German band, which has only been in existence since 2003. The band is a quintet of young, male adults, each barely into their twentieth year of life. Based on the band’s website (written in German) it would appear that Joschka (Guitars, Vocals) and Sandro (Drums) are twin brothers with both having the same birth dates listed. Last year the band put out a four-track EP in Blind Faith, and 2007 sees them releasing their own “full length” offering in Love Letdown.

The band’s music seems to be an eclectic ensemble of several different genres, especially with the guitars and keyboards taking on different personas and dishing out different sounds and tones. On one hand, Joschka’s vocals are very Modern Rock-ish, while Helsberg’s keyboard selection sometimes moves the music into a Progressive arena, while Sandro’s drumming has a slight Jazz feel. That’s not to mention Joschka’s guitar tones, which oftentimes stride into Tony Iommi territory. Much too often these guys seem like they are trying to create an identity for themselves and end up sounding erratic. The band actually sounds their best when the guitars are more prominent through the rather simple mix.

Highlights include the opener “In A Mighty Cage,” which has a strong guitar rhythm sense and a nice melodic keyboard line driven by some decent Progressive drumming. “The World Flight” starts off with a nice, almost Jazzy drum roll accompanied by piano-like keyboards before breaking into a wall of Progressive sound accompanied by guitar. Also worth mentioning is the opening to “Her Greatest Wish,” which seems like a very catchy melodic tempo only to be interrupted by a somewhat mellow bridge.

The musicianship in their instruments is definitely there, but overall these guys would benefit by a fuller mix and production. Seeing as how they are currently independent, it’s certainly excusable. Another detriment is Joschka’s vocals, which just aren’t powerful enough for the picture this band is trying to paint.

Bottom line, it all sounds very uneven at times as they shift focus far too often in an effort to get more artistic when their strength is indeed a faster, heavy tempo. It’s hard to characterize this one as Metal; it’s more like Rock with Progressive and Modern tendencies. This one has sporadic amounts of grandeur, which will hopefully increase in consistency on their next offering.

Lineup

Joschka Metzinger – Guitars, Vocals
Johannes Messner – Bass, Backing Vocals
Sandro Metzinger – Drums
Johannes Helsberg – Keyboards, Backing Vocals