{"id":17911,"date":"2014-03-06T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T00:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=17911"},"modified":"2014-03-06T12:40:10","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T12:40:10","slug":"album-review-kirk-masquerade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-kirk-masquerade\/","title":{"rendered":"KIRK – Masquerade (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

KIRK
Masquerade<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nMausoleum (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 5.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Kirk are a Swiss melodic metal band who\u2019ve been in existence since the late 90s and Masquerade<\/em> is their second album, the follow-up to 2003\u2019s The Final Dance<\/em>. So yes, you read it correctly, it\u2019s been over a decade since their debut composition.<\/p>\n

Despite the popularity of their debut album and worldwide tours, Kirk eventually disbanded after drummer Vito Cecere left due to health issues, and with various other members being involved in other projects Kirk was put on the backburner. But the quartet reunited in 2010 and now features the line-up of Thomi Rauch (vocals), Sammy Lasagni (guitar), Daniel Pfister (bass), Philipp Eichenberger (drums) and Bruno Berger (keyboards).<\/p>\n

This 11-track concern is a rather tepid dose of metal that combines progressive, goth-tinged metal and cold steel melodies. From the opening stir of \u2018Devil\u2019s Claw\u2019, with its keyboard segments, to the closing \u2018Falling Angel\u2019 this album proves its worth as a melodic metal record, although at times it does leave me a touch chilly in its approach.<\/p>\n

Clearly without any filler, Masquerade<\/em> is a methodical album featuring songs which have been expertly thought out and exhibit the varying complex nuances which emerge from each instrument. Sadly however, while Rauch has a powerfully smooth voice \u2013 and one which suits this type of progressive rock perfectly \u2013 the lack of bite is a slight concern in that Kirk merely exist in a netherworld occupied by the likes of Queensr\u00ffche, Dream Theater et al; a void I rarely frequent due to the shadowy nature and baffling arrangements which seem to have found a niche in metal geek-dom!<\/p>\n

Even so, Kirk are more than able to carve out a clever tune or two whether in the form of the rousing \u2018The End Of The Universe\u2019 with its menacing riff, the jarring \u2018Fight Or Die\u2019 or plucky \u2018Time\u2019, with its simmering keys which play peek-a-boo with the icy guitars.<\/p>\n

Kirk treads a path which exhibits sound musicianship but lacking the muscle to call it power metal in any way, shape or form. \u2018Nothing Else But Lies\u2019, \u2018Fallen Angel\u2019 and \u2018Supersonic Speed\u2019 are all high calibre metal passages \u2013 the latter being the best of the trio incorporating an Iron Maiden-esque gallop without making a lasting impression.<\/p>\n

It almost seems unfair to rate this album considering my lack of interest in this sub-genre of metal, but as it stands Masquerade<\/em> is a harmless slab of notable melody yet little crunch. Remaining unfulfilled I can only describe Kirk\u2019s latest offering as a notch above average.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KIRKMasquerade Mausoleum (2014)Rating: 5.5\/10 Kirk are a Swiss melodic metal band who\u2019ve been in existence since the late 90s and Masquerade is their second album, the follow-up to 2003\u2019s The Final Dance. So yes, you read it correctly, it\u2019s been over a decade since their debut composition. Despite the popularity of their debut album and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-kirk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17911"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17913,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911\/revisions\/17913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}