Crow’s Flight – The Storm
Album Review By Rainer Kerber
Finland is clearly a stronghold of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Regularly new names emerge from the land of a thousand lakes. Now the Hamburg based label Ram it Down Records sends the next Finnish band into the race. Crow’s Flight was founded in the spring of 2008 and can therefore look back on a more than ten-year history. Three years later, the debut “The Calm Before” was released. But, like many other bands, Crow’s Flight also featured a cast-off carousel. Since 2016, however, the lineup seems to be stable. Of course, these are good prerequisites for recording a new album. And “The Storm” appeared in early October.
After 35 seconds, the album starts right. With “Forevermore”. And that’s fine high-speed hard rock. With the pressure of two guitars and a driving drumming. This fits the slightly scratchy voice of Marko Kuikka. Also, clearly to be heard are the keyboards that create a steady sound carpet. However, mostly not so extreme that they have a disturbing effect. Sounds almost like 80s stadium rock. However, not as extremely flattened, as it was common at the time. However, the gentlemen from Finland are also masters of the great mid-tempo anthems, as proven by “Circle Of Pain” or “The Mercenary”. I already said something about the powerful guitar playing. Not to mention the ingenious guitar solos, which crown each of the songs. And so melodic rock songs (“Read Between The Lines”), big stadium anthems (“The Final Sacrifice”) and hard rock cracker (“Darkness Within”) alternate. As a bonus track you can finally hear the Genesis cover “Home By The Sea”. I’ve couldn’t do much with Genesis in the past. Therefore, my comparison is clearly in favor of this version. A nice rock song at the end.
I must say the makers of Ram it Down have once again demonstrated a golden touch. With Crow’s Flight, a real rough diamond was signed. Apart from the introductory 35 seconds, listening is really fun. On “The Storm” eleven timelessly beautiful rock / hard rock songs are presented. One can only say, keep it up!
Crow’s Flight – Read Between the Lines (Lyric Video): https://youtu.be/SiqDRIlL2OA
Lineup:
Marko Kuikka – Vocals
Marko Vehmanen – Guitar
Erno Hanhisalo – Guitar
Jussi “Leba” Lehto – Bass
Risto Raivio – Keyboards
Timo Rajala – Drums
Label: Ram it Down Records
Out: October 4th, 2019
Playing time: 45:31
Track list:
- Intro
- Forevermore
- Circle Of Pain
- The Mercenary
- Read Between The Lines
- The Final Sacrifice
- A Candle In The Storm
- The Path To Follow
- Sea Of Lies
- Darkness Within
- Can’t Be Undone
- Home By The Sea
Rating : 8.5/10
MHF Magazine/Rainer Kerber
