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trax:
01. The Magician
02. The Chariot
03. The Star
04. Wheel Of Fortune
05. The Emperor
06. Devil In The Tower
07. Death
08. Lovers
09. The Hanged Man
10. The Moon
11. The Fool (Bonus Track)
Label: Scarlet Records
Musicians
Alfred Romero: vocals
Enrik Garcia: guitars
Dani Fernandez: bass
Roberto Cappa: drums
Add.: choirs, Manda Ophuis (Nemesea
The first Dark Moor album ‘Shadowland’ was released way back in 1999, so we can say that the band has been around for a while. Initially the power metal with many classical influences was relished with vocals by Elisa C. Martin, but at the end of 2003 problems arose in the band and Elisa was one of the members who preferred to look for fortune elsewhere (more precisely in Dreamaker). No problem at all, because it meant that we could make acquaintance with singer Alfred Romero on the self-titled ‘Dark Moor (2004) and this was even better and more successful for these Spanish guys.
A tour with After Forever around that time brought them to Belgium for the first time. Since then the band had stayed loyal to his concept and now it is time for their sixth studio album ‘Tarot’. As the title immediately suggests, they have written an extensive and well executed concept story about the mysteries of the tarot cards and how we can link this with real life. We welcome a new drummer (Robert Cappa), but as for the recordings, Dark Moor chose the familiar guidance and skilled judgement of producer Luigi Stefanini (also famous from Rhapsody, Labyrinth and Vision Divine; all bands with a little bit of resemblance with these Spanish band’s approach).
The music is very bombastic and filmic, just as the intro, which fluently pass into the catchy ‘The Chariot’. A video clip has been shot for this song and the fetching vocal lines soon stay in your mind. Moreover, it is in a minute obvious that guitarist Enrik Garcia is doing an ingenious job on this album. I can hardly believe that there is just one guitar player adding a zest to this album. Alfred Romero has a marvellous voice which reminds me of Daniel Estrin of Voyager in ‘The Star’, but Kamelot fans will protest and claim that the comparison with Kahn is much more appropriate. Anyway, the man just sings brilliant, though I have to say that we can rarely hear him doing solo vocal parts. Most of the time he is backed by the voice of Manda Ophuis (from the Dutch Nemesea) and even more by a lot of choirs. This album really has an opulence of choirs. These are minutely recorded a month before the rest of the album was registered.
Fortunately everything has been served with a superior sound and this makes it a stunner. The band is able to realize their intentions. For arrangements and working it out precisely must have been a huge job. Not one weak song can be found on the album and more than once I was extra charmed by the fetching vocal lines and really sublime guitar skills (listen to ‘Death’ for example). Only one track can be labelled as ballad and that is ‘Lovers’ (eh... typical). But the prestigious nature of this music is most efficient in longer compositions. That is why I want to mention them as highlights. ‘Devil In The Tower’ has some folk/troubadour influences in its vocals, again much classical parts – it almost approaches Rhapsody – it turns into piano and strings towards another speedy guitar solo to end in a kind of repetitive canon chant. The other long track ‘The Moon’ is based upon a classic symphony and catches the eye by its beautiful, slow guitar solo with introvert piano notes. It is their first album on Scarlet Records and the success of Dark Moor will surely expand again. Highly recommended for fans of Kamelot, Rhapsody, Vision Divine and symphonic metal.
01. The Magician
02. The Chariot
03. The Star
04. Wheel Of Fortune
05. The Emperor
06. Devil In The Tower
07. Death
08. Lovers
09. The Hanged Man
10. The Moon
11. The Fool (Bonus Track)
Label: Scarlet Records
Musicians
Alfred Romero: vocals
Enrik Garcia: guitars
Dani Fernandez: bass
Roberto Cappa: drums
Add.: choirs, Manda Ophuis (Nemesea
The first Dark Moor album ‘Shadowland’ was released way back in 1999, so we can say that the band has been around for a while. Initially the power metal with many classical influences was relished with vocals by Elisa C. Martin, but at the end of 2003 problems arose in the band and Elisa was one of the members who preferred to look for fortune elsewhere (more precisely in Dreamaker). No problem at all, because it meant that we could make acquaintance with singer Alfred Romero on the self-titled ‘Dark Moor (2004) and this was even better and more successful for these Spanish guys.
A tour with After Forever around that time brought them to Belgium for the first time. Since then the band had stayed loyal to his concept and now it is time for their sixth studio album ‘Tarot’. As the title immediately suggests, they have written an extensive and well executed concept story about the mysteries of the tarot cards and how we can link this with real life. We welcome a new drummer (Robert Cappa), but as for the recordings, Dark Moor chose the familiar guidance and skilled judgement of producer Luigi Stefanini (also famous from Rhapsody, Labyrinth and Vision Divine; all bands with a little bit of resemblance with these Spanish band’s approach).
The music is very bombastic and filmic, just as the intro, which fluently pass into the catchy ‘The Chariot’. A video clip has been shot for this song and the fetching vocal lines soon stay in your mind. Moreover, it is in a minute obvious that guitarist Enrik Garcia is doing an ingenious job on this album. I can hardly believe that there is just one guitar player adding a zest to this album. Alfred Romero has a marvellous voice which reminds me of Daniel Estrin of Voyager in ‘The Star’, but Kamelot fans will protest and claim that the comparison with Kahn is much more appropriate. Anyway, the man just sings brilliant, though I have to say that we can rarely hear him doing solo vocal parts. Most of the time he is backed by the voice of Manda Ophuis (from the Dutch Nemesea) and even more by a lot of choirs. This album really has an opulence of choirs. These are minutely recorded a month before the rest of the album was registered.
Fortunately everything has been served with a superior sound and this makes it a stunner. The band is able to realize their intentions. For arrangements and working it out precisely must have been a huge job. Not one weak song can be found on the album and more than once I was extra charmed by the fetching vocal lines and really sublime guitar skills (listen to ‘Death’ for example). Only one track can be labelled as ballad and that is ‘Lovers’ (eh... typical). But the prestigious nature of this music is most efficient in longer compositions. That is why I want to mention them as highlights. ‘Devil In The Tower’ has some folk/troubadour influences in its vocals, again much classical parts – it almost approaches Rhapsody – it turns into piano and strings towards another speedy guitar solo to end in a kind of repetitive canon chant. The other long track ‘The Moon’ is based upon a classic symphony and catches the eye by its beautiful, slow guitar solo with introvert piano notes. It is their first album on Scarlet Records and the success of Dark Moor will surely expand again. Highly recommended for fans of Kamelot, Rhapsody, Vision Divine and symphonic metal.
