Sorcerer - Sorcerer


Year of Release: 1995
Label: Brainticket
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 70:19:00

This is interesting ... I have the chance to review 3 bands, 4 different discs, all at the same time. It won't be a full blown review like I normally do because I'd be here until tomorrow writing that one up, but I know lots of people have been asking about these 3 bands, and now is a good time. The reason I am doing a tri-review, and what draws me to these bands, is the common denominator to all 3 bands, the singer. Anders Engberg is one of the best singers I have heard in metal and that is saying something. Lots of people are surprised that I even like this guy, and I can't understand that because his voice is very pleasing and powerful at the same time. He is not a growler or a screamer, although he can do both. What he does is sing great, and it always sounds like he is pouring his heart out into what he is doing. This is not to say that I enjoy everything he sings, as we will see, but I respected his voice enough to grab all of these discs and have them taped for me previously. So, with that in mind, here are my thoughts on these bands. In the order of preference as well.

[For the database, I had to split out Larry's reviews... but the order to read them in is Sorcerer, Lion's Share and Twilight - ed. Aug 2005]

I had been told previously that I wouldn't like this one, because of the weak music, but I had to grab it anyway to hear Anders singing on it. What I found is that no matter how good a singer is, he can't make the rest of the band sound good if the music is much weaker. This is the case here. If you take Olaf Bilic away from House of Spirits, and put him in front of a mediocre band like Falcon, then you get what you pay for. A great singer out in front of weak music. It sounds easy, and it seems to work. With Sorcerer, Anders sounds a bit out of place because he is trying to fit the music, and his voice is just too pure for it to match the weak music playing around him. Sorcerer has been called Doom, or Doomy type music, and I would have to say that it is very slow, dragging power metal, with a tinny production. The guitars are very tinny, the drums are tinny, and the bass seems to overpower the sound as my speakers tell me. The conclusion is that I hear some pretty boring, slow, plodding music with a melodic mid-range singer trying to fit in somewhere in between, and it doesn't work. The music is not melodic enough to match his great voice, and you can actually hear him straining to sound doomy, but at the same time you can almost see the painful expression on his face as he knows that his voice just does not belong in front of music like this. One of the highlights on this disc is the cover of Rainbow's "Stargazer," which Anders nails and surprisingly so does the band. Aside from that, this is one boring disc to me, and to hear a great singer like Anders trying to compete with mediocre, dragging, power metal just isn't pleasing. Another interesting thing about this is that it shows a 1995 release date, but it sounds fresh out of 1984 or 1985 production and style-wise.

[While making updates, we learned something we should have noticed: this 1995 edition is one part reissue of the 1989 demo of the same name and one part their second demo The Inquisition (1992). So Larry was spot on with his "fresh out of 1985" comment - ed. Dec 2019]

Next - Lion's Share


Tracklisting:
Premonition (0:41) / The Sorcerer (5:00) / Northern Seas (6:50) / Queen In Black (5:15) / Inquisition (6:42) / Wisdom (7:07) / Stargazer (7:10) / At Dawn (4:15) / Anno 1503/Born With Fear (6:30) / Dark Ages (8:40) / The Battle (6:34) / Visions (5:21)

Musicians:
Anders Engberg - vocals
Johnny Hagel - bass
Peter Furulid - guitar
Mats Liedholm - guitar
Rickard Evensand - drums
Tommy Karlsson - drums (9 - 13)

Discography:
Sorcerer (demo) (1989)
The Inquisition (demo) (1992)
Sorcerer (1995/2011/2015)
Heathens From The North (LP, unofficial) (2004)
In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross (2015)
Black (EP) (2015)
The Crowning Of The Fire King (2017)

Genre: Doom Metal

Origin SE

Added: July 25th 1999
Reviewer: Larry "LarryD" Daglieri

Artist website: www.sorcererdoom.com
Hits: 2765
Language: english

  

[ Back to Reviews Index | Post Comment ]