Falconer - Black Moon Rising

Falconer

Black Moon Rising

by Dan Mailer at 17 June 2014, 8:19 PM

Legendary Swedish Power/Folk metal band Falconer has brought upon us a new album, Black Moon Rising. This is an album full of epic sounding riffs, folk-tinged yet melodic and powerful metal vocals, and tunes that should keep you happy for quite a while!

Locust Swarm kicks things off with a mighty barrage of riffs; there’s a lot going on in a very short period of time here, it works really well, lots of melodic riffs and some heavy moments blending very well. The vocal approach is very different to what you may well expect if you haven’t heard the band before. There is quite a folky and theatrical feel to the vocals, almost Blind Guardian-esque yet there’s plenty of power in there too suitable to the barrage of guitar riffs going on underneath and it works quite well and gives the band quite a different sound! There are lots of cool moments in the song, the main riff is pulled off very well and some more technical sections later only serve to add to the song as a whole, with some nice guitar harmonies later on too!

Black Moon Rising really offers quite a lot as an album. Halls And Chambers is fairly straight ahead, with speedy riffage, a nice melodic chorus soaring above and some cool moments to get heads banging. Wasteland is another track that brings some blistering musicianship to play, with some snaky guitar licks and pounding drums. At the Jester’s Ball offers an almost “jolly” sound, with a bit more of a mid-tempo feel that gets a bit faster at times too, offering a nice dynamic overall sound. The Scoundrel And The Squire feels like a ballad in the more traditional sense of the word, telling a story through the medium of song, and this works really nicely with the vocal approach of the singer Mathias Blad, with some nice vocal harmonies later on too.

There’s A Crow On The Barrow is probably my favourite from this album, as it feels like the song that captures the essence of the album. The heavy riffs meet perfectly with the vocals here, with a really great chorus and some fantastic musicianship overall, all topped off with great songwriting and sense of structure. This one was closely met by the track that immediately follows it however, Dawning Of A Sombre Age which is a real rocker, with some straight ahead drumming and some awesome melodic riffs met by a really great feeling lead vocal.

The Album closes with The Priory, which opens with a really folky sounding lead guitar and a nice stabbing riff underneath, before harmonising and then opening up into some awesome chuggy guitars and some more cool vocals too. The song finishes on some awesome melodies before aptly closing the sound of a distant bell.

The production is nice and tight on the album, the drums and guitars in particular work very nicely together, the bass keeps the low end solid and the vocals work quite well overall.

This is a great album from Falconer with plenty of attitude, and what makes it worth a listen is that it blends heavier riffs very nicely with more melodic chorus and sections in their music. Definitely worth a look in for fans of the band, and also if you’re looking for some power metal with a bit of a folk edge to it, for something a little different!