Label: Dissonance Productions
Release date: 06.03.2020
Production: Elixir
Album length: 45.17 min
Genre: Heavy Metal (N.W.O.B.H.M.)
Rating: 9.0 / 10
Elixir are back. This cult British outfit, formed in 1983 and always devoted to true N.W.O.B.H.M. purism, had a bit of bad luck: by 1986, when its debut »The Son Of Odin« came out (a properly cult and killer record, by the way, one of the best things British metal had to offer at the time), every single train that could have guaranteed the band a breakthrough on the scene had already left the station. Interest in that kind of approach to metal had simply dried up. Obviously. By then thrash metallers were happily raising hell all over the planet, led by Metallica and the rest of the gang (Slayer, Exodus, Anthrax,….), and they were already radically reshaping the metal trends of the day.
Anyway, through all those years of defiance the staunch Brits never abandoned the style defined by their debut. They’ve lined up four more albums over their career, with a ten-year break in between. The fifth, »All Hallows Eve«, only came out in 2010, the band called it quits again in 2012, then reactivated later and put out a sixth this March. That’s the album »Voyage of the Eagle«. What’s most fascinating is that the five-piece kept four original members for the new record too. Luke Fabian took over on bass, replacing original bassist Kevin Dobbs. The other four guys are from the »The Son Of Odin« lineup. So. »Voyage of the Eagle« is, plainly put, a die-hard old-school, even nostalgia-soaked, starry-eyed metal album, played the way the British N.W.O.B.H.M. pioneer recipe dictates, in the hands of the generation that actually put metal on the world map. It doesn’t go deeper than that. It’s very encouraging that vocalist Paul Taylor still has enough vocal punch and dominance, while his voice keeps that theatrical touch of gloom, darkness, even doomy villainy, if you will.
The production is alive, organic, with little or no polish. The riffs are elemental, primal and grab you right away! The album serves up chargers, mid-tempo atmospheric marches (Mutiny), and there’s room for some distinctly dark and slower-stomping suites too, which Siren’s Song delivers.
The album title kind of echoes the cover of the debut, which shows an eagle painted in flight. The new album actually carries a concept and ties straight back to the debut. Guitarist Phil Denton was originally thinking of writing just an EP of songs drawing inspiration from »Dead Man’s Gold« and so expanding the story of the debut »Sons Of Odin«, but Paul Taylor hinted that if he already had Drink To The Devil (The Tavern Song), Press Ganged, The Siren’s Song and Sail On written, it was worth recording a whole album with a concept. You’ve probably guessed by now that The Eagle is the name of a sixteenth-century ship, deliberately chosen for its associations with the eagle painted on the debut.
The album »takes off« with the catchy Drink to the Devil (what a deliciously debauched title), which opens the record. Right away there are triple harmonies (»distorted Celtic-ism«), lest anyone think they’re accidentally listening to Sepultura, and then very soon the phrase switches into a sulky, predatory riff, and Taylor sinks his teeth into it with that signature, charismatic voice, which with that very charisma overcomes a lack of technical chops. But in Paul’s generation there weren’t many technically skilled metal singers, just talents like Paul, who drew inspiration from Dio, and that was perfectly enough. Phil Denton can still bring a venomous riff to a song, no doubt about it. Press Ganged confirms that “metal is very old these days” and keeps fascinating with its classicism. Horizons is the prelude to a seven-minute epic suite that mostly rides on the Sabbath-like, ominously gripping riff of the mysterious Siren’s Song, where the female vocals of singer Katie Alys Barton are perfectly woven in. Onward Through the Storm is another acrid, catchy old-school riff hook that furiously pours oil on the fire in the second half of the album, and gratefully so. Almost There is a classically cut track all round, especially with that classic beat locked in, where Thin Lizzy, AC/DC and Saxon shake hands. Whisper on the Breeze, a mystical song (acoustic in the first half), wraps the album in melancholy, the way only the Brits can conjure melancholy. No pathos. The epic moment blazes up in the finale with the excellent Evermore, one of the best songs on the album, closing “Voyage of the Eagle” in top-notch theatrical drama.
So Elixir have risen once again and, once more, stood their ground. They’ve kept all their trademarks and carried them over to their sixth studio album, which sounds just as you’d expect, as if it were lost in time and space. It missed its time by a good 35 years or more. Which is exactly why it speaks to you that much more. Better put, in 2020 it’s exceptionally special. There’s a pile of imitation and inspiration drawn from the style Elixir cultivate these days, especially in Scandinavia and Germany, and the “youngsters” play it brilliantly, sure. But when the “old farts” grab their toolbox, only they create exactly the atmosphere they knew how to create in the eighties. Even today. And »Voyage Of the Eagle« has it. Exactly that. And that’s the whole point, of course! Great album.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
01. Drink To The Devil (The Tavern Song)
02. Press Ganged
03. Horizons
04. The Siren’s Song
05. Sail On
06. Onward Through The Storm
07. Mutiny
08. Almost There
09. Whisper On The Breeze
10. Evermore
Lineup:
Paul Taylor – vocals
Phil Denton – guitar
Norman Gordon – guitar
Luke Fabian – bass
Nigel Dobbs – drums
GUEST SINGER:
Katie Alys Barton – vocals on track no. 5
