WHITE SKULL – Will Of The Strong

As Italy’s White Skull approach their 30^th anniversary, they are releasing their 10^th album Will Of The Strong.  The Power Metal veterans fulfill expectations of superior musicianship, but fall short on delivering consistent quality songs.

The album stumbles out of the gate with the dark orchestral tinged instrumental “Endless Rage”.  Once the string instruments are finally neutralized with horns and standard keyboards, the song finally builds some tension near its end.  Fortunately, the next song “Holy Warrior” takes the tempo up to Power Metal standards with high speed riffs, drums and an epic chorus sung by vocalist, Federica “Sister” De Boni.  The momentum is maintained on “Grace O’Malley” which contains subtle orchestral instrumentation elements that work well to produce a full epic sound.  The title track follows with more high speed drumming, a more restrained guitar attack and a strong vocal mix that dominates sonically.

While De Boni’s vocals are good, the song would have benefitted from letting her compete with the guitars.  The next two songs “Lady Of Hope” and “I Am Your Queen” are highlights of the album and reflect the bands’ skill at incorporating epic elements into their songs.  Sing along choruses, full backing vocals and soaring guitar flourishes and crescendos, are interspersed with heavy riffs and tempo changes.  Unfortunately, the promise of first half of the album is not maintained.  The remaining songs are benign with the exception of the malignant warbling guitar solo during “Metal Indian” and the irritating beeping heart monitor during the ballad “Sacrifice”.

While Will Of The Strong’s song quality is inconsistent, it reflects a band that is a capable unit which can still flash moments of song writing brilliance.

TUNE INTO METALEXPRESSRADIO.COM at NOON & MIDNIGHT (EST) / 6:00 & 18:00 (CET) TO HEAR THE BEST TRACKS FROM THIS UPCOMING RELEASE!!!