{"id":75017,"date":"2018-09-14T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T00:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=75017"},"modified":"2018-12-31T14:47:56","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:47:56","slug":"album-review-soulhealer-up-from-the-ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-soulhealer-up-from-the-ashes\/","title":{"rendered":"SOULHEALER – Up From The Ashes (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOULHEALER
Up From The Ashes<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nRockshots (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

With more gloss than a Rimmel make-up advert comes Finnish rockers SoulHealer. This is a band I\u2019ve ignored \u2013 not intentionally \u2013 since their inception in 2009, and didn\u2019t realise that since then they\u2019ve released a handful of records. The last, Bear The Cross<\/em>, was four years ago, however. But I thought I\u2019d give this new release a go, having not been familiar with the band.<\/p>\n

I was sort of expecting something all too shiny and new, but SoulHealer \u2013 while very much polished \u2013 still play hard, heavy and melodic metal with that distinctly European feel. So, we get high-rising harmonies that form catchy choruses and what leads us to such glorious moments are the scorching, driving dynamics consisting of Teemu Kuosmanen\u2019s guitar work. Since being joined by JiiPee Haikola, they\u2019ve formed quite a fiery team.<\/p>\n

Dive in then to the likes of \u2018Fly Away\u2019, \u2018Sins Of My Father\u2019, \u2018The Final Judgement\u2019 and \u2018Am I In Hell\u2019 which fuse together traditional power metal aesthetics with traditional metal ramblings. At the forefront of this accessible and often majestic potency is vocalist Jori K\u00e4rki, whose style is clear yet sweet on the eyes; his tone sits perfectly with whatever tempo the unit chooses. For example, a track such as \u2018Pitch Black\u2019 brings pace and energy, and yet his vocals seem to caress the guitar sound as Timo Immonen\u2019s drums bruise.<\/p>\n

Then though, the band goes for extra weight and punch with \u2018The Final Judgement\u2019 or the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal-styled traits of \u2018Prepare For War\u2019, but all that is offered up have a sort of Manowar majesty \u2013 plenty of power, plenty of punch and enough choruses to really dig their heels in.<\/p>\n

My favourite of the bunch has to be \u2018Sins Of My Father\u2019, which adopts a mid-tempo grace and really ups the game in regards to supplying an anthemic quality. One can\u2019t help but hum along to the tracks, and that\u2019s after just one listen. Just check out the Iron Maiden-esque values of \u2018Through Fire And Ice\u2019 which I\u2019ve had stuck in my head for days, the band once again dropping the tempo to deliver a steely stomp.<\/p>\n

The mixing of NWOBHM standards and classic power metal ingredients is sublime, but then at the other end of the spectrum we have the fine \u2018Behind Closed Doors\u2019. This one has the feel of a ballad, although it doesn\u2019t quite fully flirt with such a notion. And yet, it still remains a powerhouse of a tune in its tenderness, but it\u2019s a return to type for closer \u2018Land Of The Free\u2019 which brings that galloping, thunderous attack to the ears.<\/p>\n

Up From The Ashes<\/em> is a very good power metal record that utilises essential ingredients required to make a modern metal record work. I\u2019m glad I finally took the time out to listen to SoulHealer, and if you\u2019re not familiar with them, then so should you.<\/p>\n

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

SOULHEALERUp From The Ashes Rockshots (2018)Rating: 8\/10 With more gloss than a Rimmel make-up advert comes Finnish rockers SoulHealer. This is a band I\u2019ve ignored \u2013 not intentionally \u2013 since their inception in 2009, and didn\u2019t realise that since then they\u2019ve released a handful of records. The last, Bear The Cross, was four years ago, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4253],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-soulhealer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75017","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=75017"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75022,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75017\/revisions\/75022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}