Tigersclaw - Force Of Destiny
TIGERSCLAW
FORCE OF DESTINY
7Hard
Release: February 15, 2019
Tigersclaw works in a very efficient way: Alexander writes and composes all songs and lyrics, plays all instruments in his German studio (guitars, bass, synths, piano etc). Then the drums are worked out, played and recorded by Ralf. Elena finally sings her vocals in an excellent Moscow recording studio. The finished vocal recordings have been transferred to Germany where the complete mixing, mastering and finalization takes place.
Elena Minina (Vocals) started her musical career in early childhood years as soloist of a children's choir in Moscow. Later Elena entered the professional music Gnesin school and graduated as a pianist. Then after perfectly handed over examinations she was accepted in Russian Academy of music, piano faculty. Graduated in 2009 with honors. At the age of 14 years she started with a Professor of the Academy of Opera vocal and in 2012 she received the second higher education - she graduated from Russian Academy of music as an Opera singer. Finalist of „Voice of Russia“ 2015. Participant of many TV shows and concert programs in Russia. Elena is soloist of theatre "Gradsky hall" in Moscow, plays the main role in the Rock Opera of "The Master and Margarita" and in the musical "The Last Trial” Alexander Baier (Guitars, Keyboard, Piano, Bass) played and toured in the 90s in several mainly female fronted bands, several CD-releases under different names.
Tracklist:
Force of Destiny
Walpurgis Night
Tigersclaw
Speed of Light
Empire of Forgotten Souls
Lightyears Away
Still of the Night
The Fallen Queen
Feel the Night
For Kingdoms Pride
Dimitte Me
Tears in the Night
Angels Don't Cry
Breath of the Dragon
Love at First Sight
Alexander composes and writes all songs of Tigersclaw. His studio produces all the songs and albums of Tigersclaw, with attention to detail and subtleties, with devotion and an extraordinary feeling for songwriting. Savvy guitar playing, hard riffs and polyphonic melodies characterize his music. Ralf Neumann (Drums) has been the former Drummer at the Band Antares together with Alexander, they know and appreciate each other since lots of years.
We open the album with title track ‘’Force Of Destiny’’ (Star Wars?), it’s very melodic from the start. The vocals reminds me of Xandria a lot, but higher. ‘’Walpurgis Night’’ is a lovely track. It starts as a ballad, but the chorus is typical symphonic metal. ‘’Tigersclaw’’ somehow has a bit of a folk sound to it, this was however to be expected since this album seems to follow the same stereotypical route like most of symphonic metal fans. Halfway the song really starts, but again there is not much originality here.
Symphonic metal is kind of overdone at this point in time,. It’s very hard not to fall into clichès. But Tigersclaw seems to have embraced the cheesiness and just runs with it. I really wanted to give this album a fair shot, since the last album of Tigersclaw really surprised me. The vocals are extremely beautiful, but everything else has been done before. I don’t like how lyrics are crammed in one line, like they were written way before the music came to life. Some pieces are over-melodic, like in ‘’Speed Of Light’’ and ‘’Empire Of Forgotten Souls’’.
Another thing I add to the list is that I find this album extremely long, and could have easily been cut into two. All songs could have used a little boost of attention. I see the hard work that has been put in this album, but it’s still lacking so much that it bothers me. From the artwork to the lyrics, to the sound and the length, the proportions are just way off and not reaching the high bar of symphonic metal, especially (dare-I-say) ‘’female fronted’’. The competition will figuratively eat you alive.
To end on a more positive note, some of the songs are easy to listen to and the vocals are beautiful. However there is a lot of room for improvement. Getting stuck in one genre or train of thought is never good in an ever changing music scene. ‘’Force Of Destiny’’ feels like a quantity over quality situation.
Rating: 6/10
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By Tamar
22/3/2019
Line-Up:
Elina Minina - Vocals
Alexander Baier - Guitars, Bass, Keyboards
Ralf Neumann - Drums