Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Minotauro
Label: Dust On The Tracks
Release: 2013
Length: 52:12
Rating: 4/5
Anybody remember the Slovenian band Heat? Once upon a time in the wild west… Maybe the Gotthard show on 12.11.2.2005 at Ljubljana’s Cvetličarna, when Heat opened for the famous Swiss hard rockers? Or at least the names Roko Smajlagić and Davor Pavelić? In 2010 the two of them decided to rename the band Minotauro. The international lineup is rounded out by keyboardist Aleš Lavrič and the Italian musicians: singer Rudy Berginc, Damjan Caharija and drummer Emanuele Petrucci.
Back in 2009, Heat recorded a few demos that pointed to a radical break from their original heavy rock character, toward symphonic power metal, and in 2010 they decided to change their name to Minotauro. Minotauro set up their project on a grand scale. Way too ambitious for the average reach of the Slovenian metal scene. But as an international band, Minotauro managed to get in touch with some of the heavyweights of the German heavy metal scene. When German heavy metal musicians notice you and decide to help bring your ideas to life, that’s a very good sign. The competition in Germany is simply incomparable to, say, the Slovenian reality. Only the strongest survive there. And if you want to survive on the German metal market, you have to be exceptionally strong. That’s why everyone in that business is very talented and sharply defined. From producers to musicians. The fact that »Master of the Sea« is a record worth paying attention to is also confirmed by the guest spots from some distinguished musicians. They are Swedish vocalist Goran Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum, Street Talk, Karmakanic), excellent German guitarist Tom Naumann (Just Priest, ex-Primal Fear, ex-Sinner) and (yes, you read that right) Slovenian guitar virtuoso and renowned session musician Bor Zuljan (Devil Doll, ex-Šank Rock).
So the starting point of Minotauro’s musical statement is power metal. But it’s a power metal steeped in symphonic elements, seasoned with real orchestrations. Organic ones. So. Besides the keyboards, you can clearly hear that the core of the compositions also includes orchestral arrangements played on real instruments, under the baton of Denis Modrušan.
Poetry about heroes, spells, defiance, the occult, tragedy. Good and evil! The usual stuff, then. But wrapped in the glow of a dark turn of events! No sweeteners, in other words. The songs are often complexly structured. That means they develop through several different lead motifs and multiple guitar phrases. The middle instrumental passages are often stretched out, and the orchestrations frequently take the dominant role there, flipping the mood brilliantly and keeping the album’s flow dynamic. Despite the well-established figures power metal uses, both in its guitar phrasing and in its typical choice of lead rhythmic textures, double bass drum pedals included, Minotauro are developing their own recognizable musical starting point. This is a band that will appeal to fans of symphonically stuffed power metal. That is, fans of bands like Kamelot, Blind Guardian and Rhapsody of Fire, among others, though they don’t sound like any of those, which is a very good thing. Minotauro come out of the classic heavy metal / heavy rock riff, which could also catch the attention of fans of the newer (post Solid Ball Of Rock) albums by the legendary Saxon.
No need to waste words on the production: it’s excellent. It sounds cranked up, it sounds alive, it sounds tangible. Nothing sterile about it. Singer Rudy Berginc’s vocals follow the engraved style of singers like Tobias Sammet (Edguy), Michael Kiske (Unisonic, ex-Helloween) or even Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden). The voice is powerful, authoritative, and handles every register equally well as he carries vocal power from one to the next. Minotauro actually don’t harmonize the lead vocal with additional backing vocals. Guitar solos and guitar duels are wonderfully woven into the middle passages, which are seasoned with orchestrations, deepening the drama of the songs and adding color contrast to the chosen mood.
In the songs you can feel the creative effort and the excellent chemistry between every member of the team. Minotauro really polished every detail of this album. The songs reach a motif-by-motif variety that guarantees exemplary dynamics, which pulse through the waves of mood across the album with great conviction.
The songs are stitched together from so many lead-motif switches that the album sinks into your ears more slowly than you’d expect from a power metal record. Although the album is super easy to listen to and, in the way its melodic reach develops, hugely infectious. Given the complexly designed arrangements, the lead chorus melodies don’t play a dominant role in the compositions, since they’re balanced out by longer orchestral passages. Even so, the band has a great sense for the gradual build-up of the grabbing power of the chosen mood, embodied at the crescendo by some seriously well-crafted chorus melodies, like the one in the excellent closing track Devil’s Sign.
»Master of the Sea« is an excellent debut. It definitely doesn’t disappoint. You can feel the band knows exactly what it wants and carried a clear musical vision right from the start of its career. It’s also clear that the members are seasoned, experienced old hands and that Minotauro isn’t their first band. Given the polish of the songs, especially the orchestrations they’re seasoned with, along with the excellent production, it’s also clear that the band wanted to squeeze out its creative maximum already on its studio debut. A great deal of polishing and detailing went into the arrangements.
Let’s hope Minotauro keep going in this direction. Maybe they’ll also record a punchier, shorter epic metal march and slot it into the next studio album, within an otherwise hugely seductive approach of combining elements of classical music with metal. It would effectively ease the occasionally oversaturated atmosphere of a grandly conceived course of events, driven by an operetta-flavored combination of classical music and metal.
The operatic »Master of the Sea« is stuffed with bombast, yet it carries a dark, atmospheric touch where adding sweeteners is forbidden. With it, Minotauro have laid the cornerstone of their own recognizability. An album, then, that they can rightly be proud of, and so they can look into their creative future with great verve and without a care. Given that this is a collaboration that also involves Slovenian musicians, we should see Minotauro as a homegrown band too and show them the support they deserve. At the very least by keeping an eye on them and on everything they do. I believe the next Minotauro album will be the definitive step up from a very solid and, above all, creatively honest studio debut.
Lineup
Rudy Berginc – vocals
Roko Smailagic – guitar
Damjan Caharija – guitar
Ales Lavric – keyboards
Davor Pavelic – bass
Emanuele Petrucci – drums
SPECIAL BAND MEMBER:
Denis Modrušan – orchestrations
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Goran Edman – vocals
Tom Naumann – guitar
Bor Zuljan – guitar
Production
Achim Köhler
Tracklist
01. The Idol
02. Master Of The Sea
03. Hero
04. The Day Of Redemption
05. Another Day
06. Never Loose Your Faith
07. This Is What We Need
08. The Taste Of Freedom
09. Devil`s Sign
