Artist: Empire
Label: AOR Heaven Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 2.5/5
Empire are putting out the follow-up to “Trading Souls” (2003)! This is a band that will catch the attention of all fans of late Black Sabbath, or, to put it roughly, fans of every “Sabbath” album with Tony Martin on lead vocals. This time around, his fellow ex-Sabbath man, the excellent bassist Neil Murray (also ex-Whitesnake), is back with him in Empire, Andre Hilgers (Silent Force, Axxis) is again behind the drums, and the main melody-smith in Empire remains Majesty member Rolf Munkes (guitar, keyboards). So on ”The Raven Ride” there’s no keyboardist Don Airey (Deep Purple) this time. In short, it’s music that at its core isn’t far from Black Sabbath, and the new Empire album stays true to that tradition.
If we put “The Raven Ride” under the microscope, it’s best to take the album as a whole, since it runs on a very similar frequency through all 45 minutes of music. The production is more sophisticated than on the classic “Martin-era Black Sabbath” albums, with a bigger dose of symphonic touches, epic feel and more pure classical moves in the melodies, in the guitar soloing and in the melodies of the transitional passages, which even find room for some highly atmospheric flourishes courtesy of Arabic scales. Apart from Martin’s vocals, the keyboards are the most “Sabbath-like” element. The album is closer to, say, Martin’s solo album “Scream”, but definitely not too close to the “spaghetti hard rock” Martin does in Giuntini Project. Gloomy, “doomy” semitone tricks are practically nowhere to be found, with the exception of the “wicked” Devil Speaks Sinner Cries, where Martin screeches the chorus devilishly high, like Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) in the early eighties.
It’s precisely this bigger helping of pomp that moves the album far enough away from the Black Sabbath legacy that we can’t call “The Raven Ride” a typical clone. The songs are adorned with expressive, polished guitar riffs that stick in your ear “right away”, and as a counterweight there’s a cannon-like rhythm line that doesn’t shine with the kind of raw power that drummers Powell, Rondinelli or Appice brought to the “Sabbath” albums. Into that combination fits perfectly Martin’s strong, stainless-steel-forged, ultra-melodic voice, which proves yet again that he hasn’t lost a speck of his shine over all his years in music. In short, these are the real deal songs, with big melodies, the kind that give you goosebumps, where you feel the magic of the riff, where you catch the true and unique frequency of “heavy metal” or “hard rock”.
Empire are now one more band filling the void Black Sabbath left after 1995, and that void is by now pretty densely packed. But without Martin there’d be nothing, since all the bands and projects with this kind of approach have invited Tony Martin to join in, and as a musical figure he’s evidently so strong in that position that the output of Guintini Project, Rondinelli, Voodoo Hill or Empire simply has to gravitate toward Black Sabbath. “The Raven Ride” is an excellent, technically polished, classically melodic, hellishly wound-up “hard rock” album, written together by seasoned musicians. It’s graced with a rich, lofty atmosphere, mystique and a flirtation with the occult. Real mental food for all Tony Martin fans.
Lineup
Tony Martin – vocals
Rolf Munkes – guitar, keyboards
Neil Murray – bass guitar
Andre Hilgers – drums
Production
Rolf Munkes
Tracklist
1. The Raven Ride
2. Breathe
3. Carbon Based Lifeform
4. Satanic Curses
5. Al Sirat (The Bridge To Paradise)
6. What Would I Do
7. Changing World
8. Maximum
9. I Can’t Trust Myself
10. The Devil Speaks, The Sinner Cries
Album length: 45:55
