DarkFire - DarkFire

Year of Release: 2002
Label: Sacred Metal
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 48:50:00

Ahh, fantasy power metal. What would we do without you during extended late-night LAN parties? Hailing from Italy, DarkFire have produced a self-titled debut album which, I'll admit, has appealed somewhat to the not-so-secret geek in me. It's not quite a concept album, more a themed album set in a D&D style fantasy world complete with indomitable elemental powers, apocalyptic disasters, animal kings, riddling contests, alternate dimensions, dream masters, and a giant firebreathing serpent monster called Gorgoroth. Phew.

I can appreciate that these guys have considerable talent, but it's still rather raw - it needs a bit of fine-tuning, a bit of finesse. On DarkFire, they've shown that they have the technical ability, and that's not a bad thing to start out with. Tidying up their writing wouldn't hurt either (the grammar is a bit off in places, but English is not their mother tongue, so that's excusable).

Much of the album is pure power metal in the vein of Angra and Stratovarius, though they do mix it up in places. "From Hollow Trunk" and parts of "The Pure Sound" slow down the tempo and insert some acoustics into the metal, with some nice solos on the latter track. "The Spice Islands" also shows us a sample of a heavier side to DarkFire that is very promising. My favourite track is actually "Spiral Of Smoke," probably for all the wrong reasons - it's a catchy, commercial-sounding track which hails to the days of something like Europe ("The Final Countdown" ... mm, corny). The story's not too bad, fairly standard sword and sorcery stuff, set on a post-cataclysmic Earth where magic seems to have arisen in place of technology. Each band member also has a fantasy name, characters which appear throughout the story (Ivaldi, Bifrost, Mimir, Andvari and Dagr, if you're interested).

If you find DarkFire, have a listen and make your own judgment. In my opinion, it's better than lukewarm, but they're not hot stuff, not yet anyway. This band shows some interesting potential and might be worth watching as they find their feet in the industry.

Similar to: Avantasia, Angra, Stratovarius

[This review originally appeared June 2003 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
The Dark Fire / Master of Bulls / The Pure Sound / Against The Erudite / Colours / Spiral of Smoke / The Spice Islands / From Hollow trunk /Gorgoroth's Fire

Musicians:
Tommy Dall'Olio - guitars
Francesco Compiani - Vocals
Giangiacomo Cattaneo - Keyboards
Luca Bellani - Drums
Stefano Squeo: Bass

Discography:
DarkFire (2002)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin IT

Added: December 12th 2004
Reviewer: Karyn Hamilton
Score:
Artist website:
Hits: 2437
Language: english