Reviews
Juha Harjula - MELODIC.NET
Sometimes you find new bands that really takes you by surprise and one of them is Infinity?s Call from Germany that has released their debut album independent. To be a independent release the sound of the album is really great. They deliver primetime melodic hardrock in the veins of typical german hardrock acts such as Shylock, Axxis, Dark Sky mixed with the english acts such as Lionsheart, Ten and in their most pompish moments they remind little of Magnum.
The singer Ebby Paduch has a great powerful voice that reminds of a mixture of Steve Grimmett(Lionsheart) and Bob Catley(Magnum).
There is 13 tracks on their debut album that is filled with great songs and variation that will keep you wanting to hear the next song. When I listened to Light In The Dark first time I thought that this was a solid and standard melodic hardrock album that I had heard so many times but the more I listen to it the more I fell for it.
Just listen to Magic Kingdom that sounds like a heavier Magnum with great background vocals. They use the keyboards just right on many of the tracks and proof to that you got to listen to the titeltrack were the chorus is filled with fluffy keyboards and a catchy chorus a?la Axxis. If you want to hear more fantastic keyboards then check out the heavy and pompish Slave Of Pain. If you mix Shylock with Magnum you get the brilliant ballad Lights In The Rainbow, great song. Too Much Time and Hear The Call is the real highlights of the album. Both songs has a powerful and pompish sound that are filled with brilliant hooklines and is filled with tough riffs. The start and end the album with instrumental songs and all in all you get 11 powerful songs that really will please fans of those mentioned acts.
Ebby Paduch, Philipp Zanella, Peter Schmid, Patrick Treutle and Dieter Behle has really come up with a nice debut album for sure.
Arne Asbølmo - MELODIC HARD ROCK TODAY:
Infinity`s Call`s debut album landed in my post box some weeks ago. Light In The Dark is a really interesting release and what these guys have done is making an album that I think takes a step away from many bands in their genre. The band plays Melodic Hard Rock with a mystical, dramatic touch, with some Metal and Progressive elements. I have listened a lot to their album lately. The first few times I was a bit unsure about their music, but now
I`m very convinced about that this is an exellent release. The 13 songs have a total playing time of almost 52 minutes.
Already from the beginning, with the intro The Gate, you will hear a bit of the mystical touch in their music. Land Of Dreams is more straight forward Melodic Hard Rock, but with a very strong melody line and a great refrain.
Musically they remind me of Magnum, Second Heat, Guild Of Ages and Domain. The production and sound are very good and let the instrumentation and vocals be very pleasing to listen to. The variation from song to song is great
and with Magic Kingdom the tempo goes down a bit with darker guitars. The song is built up with great riffs and a beautiful chorus with mystical keyboards, floating nicely together with the vocals from Eberhard Paduch. Light In
The Dark and Slave Of Pain are both more Melodic Hard Rock oriented, but there is something different about the songs from Infinity`s Call compared to other bands, exactly what it is I can`t tell. Philipp Zanella is a great
guitar player, and you will discover it especially good by listen to the fast song Dance With The Fire, just listen to the solo part. Too Much Time and Hear The Call are two of the biggest reasons that I compared Infinity`s Call to Magnum, and these songs sounds like they are taken from On A Storyteller`s Night, but with a more modern and heavier sound. Open The Window, the dark sounding Praying Hands and the beautiful instrumental, Dedication, ends the album. All 13 songs are great with a special mood and feel and they have made a deep impression on me.
So check out Infinity`s Call, now!!!!
HOT TIP!
Steen Peitersen - THE MELODIC ROCK SITE:
Infinity's Call was formed in November 2001 in the south of Germany - in Ulm to be precise. This melodic metal act features the talents of amazing vocalist Eberhardt Paduch and great guitarist Philipp Zanella and bass player Uwe Hofmaier - besides the 3 key members there are two session musicians involved, too: Dieter Behle on drums and Peter Schmid on keyboards!
Mr. Paduch sometimes reminds me of Claus Lessman from fellow Germans Bonfire - but (and here I hope it is to no offense to Lessmann) Paduch is outstanding - he has a great range and sings notes that other vocalist only can imagine! According to their website all members has been in the musical environment for a long time in bands like Tyrant, Stnefield, Gravestone and Dynasty. Besides that Eberhardt Paduch has a background as a classical trained singer.
The musical ability of Infinity's Call spands from long progressive parts with a lot of tempo changes to sheer honey covered ballads - a mix of classic virtues of British kinda bands like Magnum/Ten and classic German/Mid-European hard rock like Helloween/Domain. The intro and first track "Land of Dreams" is very British inspired and "Magic Kingdom" is more in the vein of the classic German heavy metal tradition. But all in all there are a lot memorable tracks with a lot of quality in this independent release. Both musically and production-wise Infinity's Call has put a lot of effort into "Light in the Dark" - and I sincerely hope that they get a major deal one day! These guys are true pioneers and torch carriers for the genre!
Gabor Kleinbloesem - STRUTTER `ZINE:
Without a doubt, this is a high quality record, although some might say nothing new is brought here, but who cares if the featured material on a CD sounds just great! INFINITY’S CALL is coming out of Germany and they play Melodic Hardrock, and actually they do it really impressive at times.
13 songs are included, with some high quality musicianship, good vocalwork (a la STEVE GRIMMETT of LIONSHEART/GRIM REAPER) and a strong big sounding production, this CD is definitely one of the better releases in the independent Melodic Hardrockscene. Most of the songs are uptempo, with as highlights “Light in the dark” (a fantastic hard-hitting 80s type of uptempo Melodic Hardrock like a mix between DOKKEN, SCORPIONS and Swedish RECKLESS), “Slave of pain” (midtempo piece), “Dance with the fire” (a challenging fast uptempo Melodic Metal piece, with awesome keyboardwork, and a strong hook, besides the catchy chorus) and “Fantasy” (like 80s MAGNUM epic melodic hardrock). Like I said in the beginning of this review, the CD might sound like just another typical Melodic Hardrockalbum, there is no way you can deny the fact this is quality stuff, which is not far away from bands like SHAKRA and LIONSHEART.
(Points: 8.3 out of 10)
Sir Lord Doom/Hellion Records Mailorder
Na, was hören wir da denn? Melodischen Heavymetal mit stark hardrockigen Tendenzen, fast schon zu hart für AOR, etwas zu geschmeidig für Powermetal, aber ein gutes Zwischending, welches mich persönlich an die Klassiker der 80er erinnert, Black Sabbath von "The eternal Idol" bis "Tyr", Dokken, Keel, man kennt die Namen alle. US inspirierter Hardrock eher, hochmelodisch und doch heavy, mit einigen sehr hymnischen Momenten, die dann wieder Richtung England zeigen, Demon oder Magnum. Gut gespielt ist es allemal, gut und schmissig komponiert ist es, daß man auch richtig seinen Spaß dran hat und die Stücke zusätzlich noch im Gedächtnis bleiben. Mensch, die können ja richtig was. Der Sänger hat auch das richtige Organ für diese Musik, melodisch und kraftvoll beißt er sich durch die Stücke, erinnert an die Rockgrößen der Vergangenheit, auch von der Qualität her, vielleicht beschreibbar als Mischung aus Tony Martin und Klaus Meine und reißt die Songs wie auch den Hörer mit sich fort. Das hier ist wirklich feiner Stoff, den man immer wieder gut hören kann. Vor 20 Jahren wäre das ein Klassiker geworden, glaube ich.
Daumen hoch!!!
AOR Heaven Mailorder
Eine angenehme Überraschung stellt diese Süddeutsche Formation mit ihrem in Eigenregie aufgenommen Album ´Light In The Dark´ dar, das zwischen Melodic Hard Rock und AOR bestens für Fans von Crystal Ball, Aidean und Mydra geeignet ist.
Hang Loose Records
Sehr gute Melodic-/ Hardrock Newcomerband um den Stonefield Saenger Ebby Paduch, das Ganze erinnert auch etwas an die Stonefield Klassiker und eine härtere Version von Magnum,
13 Tracks incl.: Land of Dreams, Light in the Dark
Schmankerl Records
Great 2004 Privatepress from Germany, sounds like a good mix of Magnum meets typical German Melodic Rock (Karo / Aidean / Dark Sky / Domain / etc.)
TASTE IT !