ANCARA – Beyond The Dark

Ancara is a Hard Rock/Metal band based in Finland. Since the middle of 2006, they have released two full-length albums and a few singles collections. Their second disc, Beyond the Dark, was originally released in the summer of 2007, but received a wider release in 2008. This updated release also features a couple of bonus tracks. All told, the album has 10 songs.

Although Ancara can be certainly considered a Metal band, their songs have Hard Rock leanings; nothing on Beyond the Dark is really heavy, although on the whole the album is certainly heavier than most Hard Rock offerings by other bands. Ancara’s style could be considered Heavy Hard Rock: melodic and catchy, with a noticeable element of heft and muscle. And while lots of Hard Rock groups dabble in slick Pop Rock with overly-shiny production values, Ancara definitely doesn’t: the guitars maintain a decent amount of crunch throughout the length of the album and the oftentimes gritty vocals from lead singer Sammy Salminen are worth noting too.

One thing Ancara does fairly well here is crafting an epic feel to some of their songs: tracks like “Snowflower” and “The World” (one of the bonus songs, which was originally released as a single in 2006) feature big production and an element of grandeur that separate them from the rest of the tunes, which while good, energetic Hard Rock/Metal romps in their own right, feel a little generic. “In Silence” is a slower-paced track that works pretty well, with some nice guitars and well-done vocal passages; it ranks with “Snowflower” and “The World” as the best songs on Beyond the Dark.

The other bonus track on Beyond the Dark is a live rendition of “Burn In Hell,” a song that appeared on Ancara’s debut album. Heard in a live setting, this track is pretty heavy, with solid riffs and attention-grabbing vocals from Sammy Salminen, who throws in a couple of cuss words here and there to liven things up.

Beyond The Dark is a fairly good outing from Ancara, albeit one that could have used a bit more spark. While there are some solid songs on the album, a few others just seem to be along for the ride.