{"id":96798,"date":"2022-09-23T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T23:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=96798"},"modified":"2022-11-22T11:42:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T11:42:27","slug":"album-review-metal-order-adventures-nightmares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-metal-order-adventures-nightmares\/","title":{"rendered":"METAL ORDER – Adventures & Nightmares (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

METAL ORDER
Adventures & Nightmares<\/strong><\/span>
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\nSelf-released (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Some albums you just have to swat away the band name and cover artwork otherwise they entangle you in their cheesiness like thorns. And as I predicted to myself before lending an ear, Metal Order is very much melodic, glossy metal bathed in a sword n\u2019 sorcery light, but I respect it in part.<\/p>\n

Yes, there is an overt sense of corniness about this debut album and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s intentional, but there\u2019s also a charm hidden deep within its anthemic layers, mainly through the warm keyboards of Gus Schoerner and the leads of Kalebe Oggioni. The vocals from both Craig Cairns and Jamie Jordan have a rather cosy AOR design to them at times, and this is immediately apparent on the rather steely yet comforting opening glide of \u2018Courage Of A Soldier\u2019 which has numerous warm layers to investigate.<\/p>\n

This is not progressive metal but there is an intelligence, even if at times there\u2019s that drift towards contemporary Euro-Goth thematics whereby power metal aesthetics are applied and flirt with symphonic measures. However, when done correctly there are some real gems to find here. \u2018Steelbrothers\u2019 gives me a feel akin to some of Yngwie J. Malmsteen\u2019s 80s neo-classical Goth simmerings, and that\u2019s not in a guitar sense but just in feel with the soaring vocals and trudging, doom-laden march.<\/p>\n

As the album unravels there\u2019s a nice flow and a variety too. \u2018The Tempters City\u2019 is one of the record\u2019s niftiest, speediest chimes where the vocals, as exampled on the opening track, are more subtle and airy as opposed to the deeper, meatier tones on \u2018Steelbrothers\u2019. Meanwhile, \u2018Cthulhu-Rising From The Sea\u2019 simmers with wonderful axe work and the powerhouse vocals soar in majestic fashion as the lyrics reveal themselves like the yellowing pages of an ancient tapestry daubed in tales of ancient lands besieged by hell\u2019s unnameable creatures. And this feel repeats itself again with the dark yet rich clatter of \u2018Thunder And Fury\u2019 with its effective keyboards, while \u2018Ninja\u2019 \u2013 sandwiched between everything else \u2013 seems a tad out of place but remains anthemic and Gothic but is no match for the fizzing charge of \u2018Now Or Never\u2019, the gloriously majestic \u2018Today, We March\u2019 and the closing stirs of \u2018Fields Of Betrayal\u2019.<\/p>\n

Adventures & Nightmares<\/em> really does promise exactly what its title suggests, and through all the dripping rafters of cheese there remains that steely, symphonic and yet subtle wonder and, dare I say it, naivety even though these guys have managed to craft a rather melodiously engaging adventure.<\/p>\n

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

METAL ORDERAdventures & Nightmares Self-released (2022)Rating: 7.5\/10 Some albums you just have to swat away the band name and cover artwork otherwise they entangle you in their cheesiness like thorns. And as I predicted to myself before lending an ear, Metal Order is very much melodic, glossy metal bathed in a sword n\u2019 sorcery light, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5097],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-metal-order"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96798","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=96798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96799,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96798\/revisions\/96799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}