Artist: Ivanhoe
Label: Silverwolf Productions
Released: 2008
Rating: 2/5
Ivanhoe are a German progressive metal band, known for having once counted Andy B. Franck, the current singer of thrash/power metallers Brainstorm, among their ranks. “Lifeline” is their fifth consecutive studio album, counting from the debut that came out way back in 1994.
The style these guys cultivate is all about infectious melodicity, and in choruses packed with catchy, bombastic, epic-arena hooks, it keeps the dynamics and liveliness of this album running high. The English lyrics are phrased decently, and the vocals are melodic, strong in every register, and cruise in the tracks of the older role model Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) or the younger rival Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia). The singer treats himself to a healthy dose of high-flying acrobatics when it comes to articulation and reaching extremes – the highest registers – and with his timbre and approach he also brings a fair amount of dramatic stage theatrics into the album’s atmosphere.
The songs are built from many motifs, laid together in such a way that there’s no fear of motif fragmentation. These are well-crafted motifs with coherent transitions that keep the songs compact, peaking in bombastic chorus melodies. The rhythms are progressively broken up, and the avalanche-like riff production helps build a massive wall of sound, with the guitars’ toxic metal riffing. These guys walk in the footsteps of modern bands like Symphony X, Adagio, Elegy (e.g. in Angels Hologram or Cheops) and, to some extent, Kamelot too, with musical leanings strongly tilted toward a general symphonic-orchestral sound. And since I mentioned Elegy, of all the bands listed Ivanhoe are closest to them in song structure and in the mood they create.
In short, here’s a new album from a band that plays a more demanding style of heavy metal, but one that’s still not too demanding (though far from innocent) for Ivanhoe’s music to start beating the listener around the ears, which is what happens when bands à la Dream Theater take the wheel. Those demand a listener in an absolutely calm psychophysical state, or in other words, maximum devotion and receptiveness to various forms of “potential torture” of the associative cerebral cortex.
With “Lifeline,” Ivanhoe stay true to their musical heritage and the tradition of their previous albums. “Lifeline” is a very high-quality album in all the fundamental attributes. It has a wide range of well-developed motifs, deftly glued together, with just the right dose of interesting solo escapades, crossfire duels between keyboards and guitar, and rhythmic turns that add the right measure of unpredictability and keep the album’s tragic mood intact. Anyone looking for innovation and insight will unfortunately find Ivanhoe the wrong address. With this new album Ivanhoe will only be interesting to a narrow circle of loyal fans of their music, the ones they won over with their debut “Visions… And Reality” (1994). So with “Lifeline” too, Ivanhoe keep moving carefully and safely in their tried-and-tested musical costume. Quality stuff, but with no standout moments, and definitely for prog metal fans, always relevant, even if right now (from about 2003 onward) the relevance of prog metal of the Ivanhoe type is generally still declining.
Lineup
Mischa Mang – vocals
Achim Welsch – guitar
Chuck Schuler – guitar
Richard Seibel – keyboards
Giovanni Soulas – bass guitar
Sebastian Brauchle – drums
Production
Ivanhoe
Track list
1. Lifeline (5:06)
2. Mad Corner (4:49)
3. Schizophrenie (5:07)
4. Suffering (3:25)
5. Angels Hologram (7:21)
6. Time Machine (6:40)
7. Finally (6:21)
8. You Will Burn (4:54)
9. Cheops (7:51)
Album length: 51.34
