Star Queen - Faithbringer

Year of Release: 2002
Label: Lion Music
Catalog Number: LMC 2228 2
Format: CD
Total Time: 43:48:00

Star Queen is the brainchild of singer/composer Stella Tormanoff -a young musician from Yugoslavia -who, after sending a demo tape to Lion Music was offered a project that featured other young Lion Music talents, such as guitarist Thorbjorn Englund and bassist Erik Tornberg from the melodic power metal band Winterlong, along with the help of Grecian Bob Katsionis (who recently released Turn Of My Century) and Lars Eric Mattson also contributed to the music and the production.

That said, the album is not what was promised -epic power metal with gothic and neo-classical influences. In fact, it could be put down to Stella's vocals which are, unfortunately, not very stellar at all. She definitely has a ballsier style than, say, Tarja from Nightwish and is similar to Fabio Lione (Rhapsody, Vision Divine) during his heavier moments with Athena, but she is not a patch on these singers. She has a bit in common with original White Skull vocalist Sister Frederica De Bono but again, she doesn't have the skills of her either. The reason why she ruins songs is because she can't sing -at least, on this album she can't sing. There are some songs on Faithbringer that are so good that are just completely and utterly ruined by Stella's singing. Unfortunately, she does not do the music justice.

Musically, the band showcase a better side to Star Queen than what the singer brings. Whilst the melodies don't always flow well and it's hard to find a general theme, it is enthusiastically played and catchy with plenty of neo-classical influences that we've heard from Thorbjorn Englund before in Winterlong. There's lots of shredding on the keyboards and guitars which is really classy at times as well but yes, it is hampered by that damned singing.

Unfortunately, also, with such a diverse line-up from all over Europe, I think Stella had a different vision to Lars Eric Mattson and those differences are clearly apparent on the album. My edict, then, is to stay away from the album. Stay far away.

[This review originally appeared December 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]

Tracklisting:
Faithbringer / Devil's Dance / Firewalker / Kill Your Idol / Wonderland / Out Of The Crowd / Save The Slave / The Crying Angel And My Fears / The Myth / Welcome

Musicians:
Stella Tormanoff - vocals
Thorbjorn Englund - guitars, backing vocals, arrangements
Eric Tornberg - bass
Tony Eriksson - drums
Bob Katsionis - keyboards
Kalina Dontcheva - backing vocals
Borislav Mengov - backing vocals
Vladimir Tunov - backing vocals

Discography:
Faithbringer (2002)
Your True Self (2004)

Genre: Melodic Metal

Origin YU

Added: February 20th 2005
Reviewer: Gary Carson
Score:
Artist website: www.starqueen.net
Hits: 1652
Language: english