Rebellion - Arminius: Furor Teutonicus

Rebellion

Arminius: Furor Teutonicus

by Lior "Steinmetal" Stein at 12 November 2012, 1:50 PM

This album in particular unravels another piece of history in a time of fierce rulers and dominating empires. On the other hand, this album also shares the merits of survival of two individuals, which similarly to their forefathers, decided to not let go of their vision without muttering about the conditions, the odds and everything that is around them that is troubling. The German REBELLION, formed back in 2001 by two ex-GRAVE DIGGER members, Uwe Lulis and Tomi Gottlich, took a major blow after their previous album two years ago with the departing of Lulis and two of the band's members leaving Gottlich and the frontman, Michael Seifert, to seek out a new fate. However, these two guys didn't give up and a year later they were up and running with replacements continuing the REBELLION legacy of Epic Heavy Metal. The band's brand new release "Arminius: Furor Teutonicus", via Massacre Records, is the debut of this new lineup. Nonetheless, with glory and notable triumphs following the Teutonic / Germanic unified tribes' struggle against the Roman Empire, as it is told on this album, REBELLION as a regrouped clan has yet to live up to the form of their past creations.

Generally, REBELLION kept their same GRAVE DIGGER style of Heavy Metal as it has been attributed right from the very foundation of the band. Toughness, hard biting type of riffing, recognizable and dominating bass, traditional rhythm section and robust vocals are also evident on this here album. Yet I am afraid that the lineup change made a sort of an impact on the band's progress. To be more accurate, it seemed to me to be more of a setback. There were two major segments that more or less lacked in comparison to the previous band's releases. First there is the lead guitar section. I have no info on the new guitarists nor I know which bands they were members, but one thing is certain, the absence of Uwe Lulis was felt, whether on the guitar rhythms and especially the solo fretwork. I can go back to the era when he was the sole player of GRAVE DIGGER but I won't need to, what he did on REBELLION was surreal. The current lead guitar works on this album lacks emotions, sparks and grace. As for the rhythms, some sounded like the awakening of the old GRAVE DIGGER, in particular the "Tunes Of War" era, yet some seemed to be dry, uninteresting and reoccurring. Second factor the lacked was surprisingly the vocal line. When I first heard the voice of Seifert I thought to myself that here goes another mimic, and you probably know who was being mimicked. On the other hand, over time I found the Seifert has more to show for with a multi dimensional voice pattern that delivered artistic outcomes, from low end raspy and foreboding features to high end notes. Truly remarkable I might add. However, coming to this here album, Seifert still performing with elegance seemed rather weary, not giving his whole for the recordings. Well that was a bit troubling and I sure hope that it won't become a standard.

Following these two crucial aspects, this album made REBELLION look a tad weak than the blistering German Metal outbreak that has been conquering hearts since the turn of the decade. The Roman Empire eventually fell to the hands of tribes; some were the German forefathers, but what about REBELLION? They had a few small victories with "Ala Germanica", "Vae Victis" and "Breeding Hate", great traditional Metal outputs that brought back memories of the band's past victories. "Varus" and "Furor Teutonicus" seemed a high level up presenting some assorted sections and a great vocal display that made imagine acts in the theatre. In overall, I wasn't too convinced by what went on this release, yet this is still a fine release presenting slices of history in the same manner of GRAVE DIGGER. You may think about "Tunes Of War" as comparison.