Angband Iran

"I had hoped for power metal with a lot of Persian elements in it, but on "Visions of the Seeker", Angband offers mainly American-style power metal, especially inspired by early Iced Earth it seems (I've read that there are some Persian elements on this album, but they've escaped my ears so far). I think that most of the musical ideas work quite well on this album - even if it gets a bit monotonous at times. Mahyar Dean especially does a good job on the guitars I think - he certainly masters the art of keeping things simple. That is, he gets things done effectively without having to show off and do a lot of guitar wankery. Tracks like "Easy to Believe", "Battle For...", "Fate and the Fear" and the Schuldineresque "Truth of Lies" are quite good. The production is quit elo-fi, and perhaps substandard by power metal criteria, but I actually kind of like that, because the more fuzzy garage-like sound gives this release a more rocky edge, which I think that a lot of über polished power metal lacks nowadays. Also, we have to, in all fairness, remember that rock music is not exactly something that the totalitarian Islamistic government in Iran appreciates, so I can imagine that top notch and hyper modern recording studios are not commonplace there. My major problem is that Angband is very untight in certain places on this album, and I wonder if they didn't have time to do second takes. The album would certainly have benefited from a more tight performance, as the lack of tightness disturbs the listening experience a bit. Vocalist Ashkan Yazdani has a very special style of singing - maybe it's a Persian singing style, in which case I have nothing but respect for it, but it does take some getting used to, especially on tracks like "Astral Hallucination" and "Forsaken Dreams". Recommended to power metal fans who are interested in the metal of the world - and who do not judge all music by the standard of modern western conditions. (review posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"