Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Metalsteel
Label: On Parole Productions
Release: year_month
Running time: 41:34
Rating: 4/5
There aren’t many Slovenian metal bands you could slap the label “long-lived” on without a second thought, but if anyone deserves it (they’re not the only ones, to be clear!), it’s the Medvode heavy metallers Metalsteel. These guys have been metalizing since, believe it or not, 1999, and in that time they’ve racked up five studio albums, the live record Steel Alive, a thousand concert miles, and the status of official backing band for James Rivera (Helstar, Destiny’s End) and his tribute project Sabbath Judas Sabbath. That’s one hell of a résumé for a band that, still wet behind the ears, announced itself almost fifteen years ago with the video Novi svet. As if they were already hinting that on their sixth studio album they’d play with the concept of transhumanism and the building of a new, better world. At the hands of otherworldly neo-feudalists, of course, because humanity, thanks to its own egotistical nature, simply can’t break free of the shackles holding back its progress.
With their first concept album, Beyond the Stars, Metalsteel head off beyond the stars, and we step through the stargate via the ominous intro Lama Rabi Alardi Dini Endavur Esa Kunis Alim (the seemingly goofy title actually means something: it’s a transcription of a message an unknown male voice supposedly uttered through noise and static during the Apollo 15 mission on the Moon), which the band opens up with the first single they released, Transhuman. Metalsteel were already toying with transhumanist ideas on their predecessor This Is Your Revelation, and by quoting Gandhi (This Is Your Revelation) they hinted at a desire for spiritual growth and for improving humanity in every respect. Beyond the Stars lifts that theme to the level of a full-blooded sci-fi concept. The idea of human civilization being advanced by an outside force, i.e. an extraterrestrial race, isn’t exactly new, and it reads like a chapter straight out of Chariots of the Gods: Unsolved Mysteries of the Past by the notorious Swiss ancient-aliens theorist Erich von Däniken, but the concept of Beyond the Stars works anyway, because it has a through-line and a clear dramatic arc.
Musically, too, Beyond the Stars follows the logical path that This Is Your Revelation laid out three years ago. Once again, Metalsteel decided to record the album live in the studio, everybody playing at the same time, without excessive overdubbing, fixing and polishing. This time the result is even more convincing, because Beyond the Stars sounds clean, warm, natural and organic, and is without a doubt one of the best-sounding records in Slovenian metal. Luckily, the album doesn’t stop there, and builds on that sonic beauty with a richly varied batch of material that stays anchored in heavy metal but at times, with its complexity, dynamics and variety, edges toward progressive metal. Those progressive tendencies show up most in tracks like Anu, Materialist No More and the longest one, Astral Traveller, and stylistically Metalsteel come close to newer Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and also the school of American heavy/power metal.
Across the whole album, the girl and the guys show a musical maturity that comes through above all in the skillful song structures, marked once again by the reliable, rock-solid rhythm section of Daša and Matej, and especially by the devilishly varied guitar work of the Rok/Benjamin duo. With a rich palette of riffs, they keep the songs diverse and put meat on the bones of the story that Beny’s vocals deliver through the verses. He’s mostly punchy and high-flying, with only the slightly stiff English occasionally getting in the way, but the harmonies where Rok and Matej join him are a huge step up. These work best in the superb, masterful choruses, whose grandeur throws open the whole firmament above the listener, as the gorgeous ballad-like Stargods shows best of all, reminding us of Blind Guardian at their finest with its acoustic guitars and slightly medieval-sounding motifs. Strong choruses also win you over on the more classic-sounding title track, where Rok goes wild on guitar, on Anu with its catchy, singalong chorus and Matej’s bass escapades, and on The Council of 9 with its ominous atmosphere. Materialist No More delights with a pyrotechnic guitar excursion, Astral Traveller, Metalsteel’s longest song to date, fades out a bit hollow and could have lost a minute or two, but the closing banger The End of the World fixes the taste in your mouth, with Metalsteel acting like the monolith in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, nudging humanity to a new evolutionary level and the birth of the star child. Whether the aliens’ intentions were benevolent or sinister could easily be the subject of a sequel, in the vein of the twin albums Operation: Mindcrime and Crimson.
Compared to its predecessor, Beyond the Stars doesn’t hit you on the first spin, mainly because it’s so devoted to the concept, and the songs take a little longer to sink into your ears. But the journey among the stars is thrilling again and full of surprises, and the songs work both as a cohesive whole and as individual pieces of a bigger picture. Metalsteel have once again proven they’re masters of their craft, and, true to the concept, reminded us that their evolution is still underway, with a curve that has pointed steeply upward from the very start.
If you missed the album presentation at Jedro in Medvode, you’ve got a second chance on February 23 at On Parole Vinyl Assault, for the release of the album’s vinyl edition (vinyl editions of the new albums by Eruption, Srd and Omega Sun will be coming out at the same time).
Lineup
Matej Sušnik – bass, vocals, keyboards
Rok Tomšič – guitar, vocals
Benjamin Kic – guitar, vocals
Daša Trampuš – drums
Production
Benjamin Kic
Tracklist
1. Lama Rabi Alardi Dini Endavur Esa Kunis Alim
2. Transhuman
3. Anu
4. The Council of 9
5. Stargods
6. Beyond the Stars
7. Vrillon
8. Materialist No More
9. Astral Traveller
10. The End of the World
