With their new concept album ‘Soulbound‘ Gladenfold focus more on Power Metal and they shifted to mostly clean vocals. The album is entirely created by the band, recorded in home studios, mixed in-house by Toke Gerdts, and mastered by Miro Kiiski.
The album follows the story of two characters and their connection to each other trough fate, cycles and the consequences of actions.
The music is atmosphere and cinematic with bright melodies and theatric flair.
Things start off with the extremely catchy classic power metal track ‘Fire Wind‘, with is probably my favourite track on the record. It combines it’s big chorus section with more progressive elements and strong atmospheric vocals. ‘For My Queen‘ is another highlight for me. It reminds of ‘Silence‘ era Sonata Arctica. The keys are particular to my liking, the bridge has a similar feel than ‘The End of This Chapter‘.
The heaviest song of the album, ‘Helix Of Hate‘, comes as a bit of a surprise, as the sudden use of growls comes unexpected during this song. But it fits the harsh nature of this song very well and while the song caught me of guard it still fits seamlessly with the rest of the record. ‘Mercy‘ is another surprise. The powerful ballad, with WITHOUT WARNING vocalist Michaela “Micha” Tuomenoksa stands in stark contrast to the previous song, as it softly wraps it soundscapes around you.
All-in-all ‘Soulbound‘ is a well rounded album, that is fun to listen too, both as a casual background listen as well as a deep dive into the songs and the story. It’s defiantly worth checking out, especially if your a fan of music of bands like Kamelot, Blind Guardian, Wintersun or Sonata Arctica.
Gladenfold are:
Esko Itälä
Matias Knuuttila
Toke Gerdts
Ville Vesa
Lauri Itälä
Paavali Pouttu
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REVIEW SCORE
| 7.6 | ‘Soulbound‘ combines interesting storytelling, powerful, atmospheric music and pleasantly strong vocals. Even tough the album is recorded and mixed in-house it has a very professional feel to it. Absolutely worth a listen, or several. |
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