Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Almanac
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release: 2016
Length: 52:22
Rating: 3.5/5
Victor Smolski is these days one of the most respected names in metal when it comes to songwriting, and certainly when it comes to guitar virtuosity. A multi-layered musician who masters a ton of instruments, he caught the public off guard last year by leaving German power metallers Rage, where he’d spent the last 16 years of his career. In an official statement, Smolski simply said that he and Rage frontman Peter “Peavy” Wagner had drifted so far apart over the past few years, both in musical vision and on a personal level, that there was no common ground left for working together.
The Belarusian guitar machine-gunner and composer has now set up a new project and a new band, which he’s named Almanac. The studio debut »Tsar« came together fast. Lightning fast. Smolski gathered a crew of exceptional musicians around him, all of whom have already proven themselves in their own fields, with two vocalists standing out in particular: Andy B. Franck (Brainstorm) and David Readman (Voodoo Circle, Pink Cream 69).
Because Smolski is a thoroughly trained musician (let’s say “educated”, which sounds nicer), and because his musical path has been inseparably intertwined with classical music from the very first steps, »Tsar« predictably delivers a kind of metal opera, tailor-made for all the hardened power metal fans who bet everything on epic pomp and symphonic grandeur crossed with heavy metal punch, with folk elements of traditional Belarusian music thrown in as seasoning.
The truth is, with »Tsar« Smolski isn’t »discovering a new Einstein«. The album is a bundle of songs whose guitar phrases come from the same place as what Smolski showed us when he joined Rage and took his first steps as a composer with that band. You could say that »Tsar« is first and foremost a very calculated, cautious album, with which Smolski wants to hold on to the goodwill of the power metal masses he won through his past graft in Rage. Let’s be honest, his ideas helped shape the most fruitful and creative era in the career of that legendary Hamburg outfit, one that Peavy will have a hard time topping with his new lineup.
So with the debut »Tsar« and the Almanac project, Smolski offers a proven musical formula and doesn’t surprise anyone with it. That’s why the album often feels clichéd and keeps conjuring up associations with similar metal-operetta projects, and the guitar phrases, as already mentioned, are constantly kin to the stuff Victor co-created with Rage. The conceptual launchpad for Almanac, in terms of musical vision, can be found in Smolski’s most recent collaboration with the Prague-based Lingua Mortis Orchestra, for whom he wrote all the music on the album »LMO«, where Rage appear more or less as mere extras.
Almanac is definitely a new story, standing credibly on its own in both songwriting and concept. The three lead vocalists share the load equally across their roles, and the chemistry between the symphonic orchestra and the mission of metal once again wins you over. It’s also interesting that Smolski didn’t head off into experimental waters, but instead decided to keep the new project’s dossier 100% power metal, the very dossier that earned him respect and recognition in the metal universe. That’s why with »Tsar« he’ll surely keep his audience by his side, the audience that got to know him and fully embraced him through his past work with Rage. On the other hand, you can’t help asking again: »What’s up with you, Viktor? With all that outstanding talent, it’s a shame to waste it on clichéd metal«. There’s jazz out there, there are uncharted fields of avant-garde musical experimentation. Whatever. The guy obviously enjoys this position, and fair enough, he should follow it and stick with it. The price, of course, is a heap of worn-out clichés and well-tested phrases that occasionally grab your attention, distract you, and shake the credibility of the record itself. It’s obvious that Smolski writes new music too quickly and that his classical training limits him for now, while the man feels very comfortable and safe stretched out on the couch of power metal clichés.
And who is “Tsar”? Ivan the Terrible, of course.
Almanac – Self Blinded Eyes (video):
Line-up
Victor Smolski – guitar, keyboards
Andy B. Franck – vocals
David Readman – vocals
Jeanette Marchewka – vocals
Enric Garcia – keyboards
Michael Kolar – drums
Armin Alic – bass guitar
Production
Victor Smolski
Track list
1. Tsar (7:48)
2. Self-Blinded Eyes (6:00)
3. Darkness (1:17)
4. Hands Are Tied (5:48)
5. Children Of The Future (5:19)
6. No More Shadows (8:19)
7. Nevermore (4:40)
8. Reign Of Madness (6:31)
9. Flames Of Hate (6:35)
