Balflare - Downpour (2012)

Balflare has always espoused a number of Japanese power metal stereotypes, but not necessarily to their disadvantage. With their fourth full-length effort Downpour, they tend to exaggerate these traits to the point that the album feels too processed and sugary to take seriously. First, there's the overt, romantic use of melodies, which is even more pervasive than past efforts like Tempest or Thousands of Winters of Flames. Familiar progressions in the guitars and keys remind me of a hybrid of J-pop artists and 90s Stratovarius, which would be fine if the writing was exciting, but here comes across too laid back due to the prevalent, washy synthesizer tones orchestrated with loads of strings, bells, and bright chiming pads that occasionally drown out the rhythm guitar to the music's detriment, and give one the impression that Tinkerbell is fluttering by. I suppose the title of Downpour is particularly apt here, because this disc sounds wetter than a buoy after being hit by tsunami waves.

Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong about setting this sort of mood, but Balflare seem to allow the atmosphere to do its own talking, and the songs just don't stand out from one another. At its core, the music is very much neo-classical European styled power metal in the vein of other Japanese acts like Galneryus or Concerto Moon. You get loads of shredding runs from both the lead guitar and keyboard, and most of these are managed with an effortless amount of skill, both performed by Syuta Hashimoto, a young virtuoso who has been at the heart of this group since their debut. Synth tones vary between full orchestra and a more proggy, Moog like vibe, which fans of 70s and 80s prog rock will undoubtedly take to. The drumming here is pretty bog-standard for this niche, with lots of driving double bass during the power sections, suitable for the rhythm guitar. That said, it took on a more machine-like aesthetic this time out, with a lifeless snare and kick setup that didn't really add much feel or emotion to the performance. The bass lines are predictable and rarely deviate from the familiar chord patterns, and the rhythm guitar, while chunky and harsh enough that its presence isn't entirely lost, serves as little more than a backbone to the hovering precipitation of the keys. A faint few memorable riffs breakout from the rainy din.

This is Eijin Kawazoe's third studio performance with Balflare, and not his best. When hanging in a middle register, as he does for most of the verses through the album, his performance is average, the strong hints of his accent carving themselves deeply into the English inflection. That's not a bad thing at all, but there is very little by way of interesting melody in his lines. Once he hits a higher pitch, the delivery is stronger, but pretty similar to a Timo Kotipelto with a few hints of Michael Kiske; just nothing special or unique. The lyrics are decently written, personal and loaded with that same 'take me away' sensation that the album's atmosphere carries; but a lot of the imagery and titles are pretty much a grab bag of cliches from bands like Angra, Gamma Ray, and Blind Guardian. All told, while I thought all the prior Balflare records were decent, exciting and loaded with potential, Downpour sets the bar a little lower. The first 4-5 tunes are tolerable, and the later instrumental "Rain's Realm" provides a window into their influences, but then you run into "I'm Your Shadow", a vapid pop rock drama redolent of X Japan's more forgettable work, and the last few cuts "From the Edge of Time" and "In the End of Journey" are also exceedingly weak.

Downpour isn't entirely terrible, and for a few moments grants the fantastical escape it promises, but its too wrapped up in its dreamy, cheesy haze to really prove effective. Compared to the latest Anthem, or the last few Galneryus records, for example, it seems soggy and limp. Newcomers to the band would be better off checking out their first two albums, which streamlined similar aesthetics into ballsier songwriting.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10] 

http://www.balflare.net/

Balflare - Sleeping Hollow (2008)

In what seems a dire reversal of fortune, Balflare was cut back to a four piece on their third album, Sleeping Hollow. I suppose no one important was lost in this transition, since the precision rhythm section of Odaira and Matsuzaki remained in place, and the song writer, guitarist and keyboardist Syuta Hashimoto. Eijin Kawazoe also returns to handle the vocals, but the band must have felt some loss at losing about 1/3rd of its lineup. Regardless, the style here is a fairly level continuation of the prior album Tempest, only I felt a pang of regret that the band plays in a much gentler, bolder fashion than the excellent, dark but beautiful atmosphere of the sophomore.

What they do accomplish is to once again perfectly capture their cover image in the music. This is loud, but cold melodic power metal with a lot of sadness, similar aesthetically to the icy lake and untended shrine you see before you. The band can still hash out a raging, power number at a good speed, but some of the album seems to brood, with a lot of straight pianos and sad shifts in the atmospheric keyboard accompaniment. This gives a mixed reaction, because while the band are more than competent at the slower material, it's simply not all that desirable, and thus I felt songs like "Pray for Rosalia" and "Celestial Winter" waltzing sluggishly into my ear canals and then disappearing just moments after exposure. "Celestial Winter" has a half decent vocal melody in the verses, while the guitars chug along to the scintillating hints of synthesizer, but it's too simple and predictable.

It's fortunate that these do not represent the bulk of Sleeping Hollow, and we still have a good number of attention grabbers like "The Dunes", which whips along like an outtake from the last record Tempest, breaking into glorious arches of stabbing melody. "The Eyes of the Pharaoh" is another 9+ minute epic like the title track from the debut, but this time it's better written to capture the mystique of the Egyptian climate (which I might add, makes a strange concept to the wintry vibe on the rest of the album) in the clutches of melodic power. "Powerslave" this is not, but it does invoke the same, cheesy representation of the subject matter. Other thrillers include "Waking in Silence" and "The Day Falls", both of which excel at the European styled momentum the band has always been adapting to their perspective.

In the end, I felt Sleeping Hollow was perhaps the least consistent of Balflare's efforts to date, and thus I enjoyed it slightly less than even Thousands of Winters of Flames. There is some very competent musicianship here, and I still enjoy the writing and Kawazoe's ability to mesh with the walls of glittering notation fronted by Hashimoto, but its best moments feel like the thrills we've already experienced from the band, and the less interesting tracks drag it under just enough that I find myself skipping them often. "The Dunes" is certainly one of the band's best songs, though; both Eizo and the riffing are wonderful. This album might be worth checking out if you are far into the sounds of Concerto Moon, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, and Galneryus, but everyone else might is better served by staying away, or starting with Tempest if its your first exposure.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.balflare.net/

Balflare - Tempest (2006)

Just a year after their debut, Japan's Balflare enacted a number of changes to their sound, to help iron out the ruffles and achieve more than a lukewarm reception the second time out. Vocalist Hideki Tada was replaced with Eijin Kawazoe, and the band enlisted a full time keyboard player in Ayuko Hayano, though guitarist/writer Syuta Hashimoto still performs some on this album. Kawazoe has a warmer tone than Tada, and delivers a more solid performance overall, as he is able to carry the lower range through the verses without as much wavering. Otherwise, Tempest packs the same punch as the prior album, with a range of aggressive speed metal and neo-classically influenced numbers that find a medium between the work of a Rhapsody, Gamma Ray, Helloween and Stratovarius.

The band writes in some rather huge chorus parts on this record, right from the start with the soaring piece of "Awakening", and there is this nicely done, distant feel to the production, almost as if ships were sailing across the clouds of the dreamlike blue world the cover art infers. The lead work is marginally superior to the debut, and the general riff writing has improved. The synthesizers create a more cavernous atmosphere to the momentum, and there is more interest in exchanging keyboard leads with the guitars, or fusing them in a duet that feels like some lost level to a Castlevania game. The drums are really pronounced, and though the bass has never been at the forefront, you can hear that bottom end on Tempest which really helps breathe the atmosphere into the melodic mix of synth, guitar and Kawazoe.

Most of the tracks consistently marry the listener to this glorious dreamtime, like all the best symphonic power metal does, but instead of bullshit about elves, dwarves and trolls which are better left to Tolkien and role playing games, Balflare puts a more personal, dark yet uplifting spin on their subject matter. Certainly the music still feels as cheesy as most other bands in this style, but there's just a slight edge of serious attitude when the dark banks of synthesizer roll across the soundscape like gathered black clouds. The band includes a lot of heavily classical work here, like the "Hollow the Dusk" interlude or the slow build of "Toward Fall", which feels like some lost Renaissance or Medieval song for the lost, engaged with samples of thunder and rain pounding. "Reaching for the Sky" is another slow, rock piece, with glints of lead dispersed among the voluminous swelling of the symphonic keys.

But what we really want is the band to apply the pedal to the metal, and thankfully they do so, especially in the latter half of the album where they clobber us with "Storm Lord", "Black Raven" and "End of Time", all of which thunder with some well plotted, spry melodic passages, massive drums and vocals that dance across the clouds and moonlight. Pretty epic material here, and joined with quality numbers like "Outbreak" with its adorable, Romantic melodies, or "Burning Wild", which is perhaps the very best track on the album, you've got yourself over 45 minutes of material worth hearing, provided you pack a boner for this sub-genre.

Tempest is indeed a step up from Thousands of Winters of Flames, and I really appreciated the resonant atmosphere. This is just as good, if not better than most releases from the band's peers Concerto Moon or Galneryus, and only 1-2 of the tracks drag behind the rest. The line-up changes paid off, the production is very sweet, and this was a band on their way to becoming something, since they prove they're the measure of many European contemporaries.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (precious things lost)

http://www.balflare.net/

Balflare - Thousands of Winters of Flames (2005)

As a younger teenager I was exposed to melodic Japanese bands like Loudness and Anthem, and since then my fascination has only grown, for the country's metal scene, in all of its various categories, for it seems they have at least a few bands reflecting everything that goes on across the world. When power metal started exploding in the 90s with its symphonic overtures and modern blend of Iron Maiden, Helloween, Judas Priest, Accept and Yngwie J. Malmsteen, the Japanese did not really have an answer. Their bands were still performing strange spins on thrash and death metal, and the 'visual kei' was nearing the height of its popularity. Come the 21st century, the call has finally been answered, with artists like Galneryus and this younger Tokyo act Balflare taking up the reigns to mirror their European counterparts.

All of the fundamentals of a Stratovarius or Rhapsody were in place for the band's 2005 debut Thousands of Winters of Flames: fast-paced, forward anthems with a heavy use of keyboards and a key melodic vocalist, in this case Hideki Tada. Tada has a fairly wavering voice that often feels as if it shifts off key or strains to keep up in the music, but this is partially due to his native accent intervening with his pronunciation of the lyrics. At times, it can be quite charming and effective, but on close inspection it can also seem a little painful. Thankfully, the band smothers him in such a gooey melodic density that the listener's emotions will soar sky high during about half the tracks on this debut. The shredding capacity of Leo Yabumoto and Syuta Hashimoto is sound, to be expected in this sort of band, but they never quite over indulge themselves.

One of the things I truly enjoyed about this album is the way the synths just erupt as a major atmospheric component in their own dimension, without smothering the guitars. The band had yet to score an individual for the position, so they're performed here by Hashimoto, and you can really feel the presence in "Storm Mind" or "Bind Blaze", where they form a windy rush of power over the twisting, writhing guitar rhythms engaged in neo-classical note progressions and the rhythmic storm being delivered by bassist Takashi Odaria and drummer Isao Matsuzaki. I find the band's style here very reminiscent of the first two Rhapsody records, though the band does not break into the pompous choral sections or write endlessly about bad fantasy stories that sound like some abortion of a D&D campaign. Other comparisons to late 80s Helloween and just about anything by Gamma Ray or Stratovarius are not out of the ballpark.

In addition to the two I mentioned above, I really enjoyed the song "Dead Fall", with a forceful, chugged verse dripping with symphonic keyboards. Tada's verse vocals do leave something to be desired, though he picks it up for the chorus, like a siren running parallel to the thick banks of melodic rhythm guitar. "Four Hundred Years" has a brief sweeping symphonic intro before erupting into a shorter speed metal composition with some sinister underpinnings of mystique. "Thousands of Winters of Flames" itself is rather a chore, exceeding 9 minutes, but its cutesy classical segues and overall construction transform what could have been a disaster of epic proportions into a solid experience. The band close off the album with one of the most raging speed metal tracks of their career, the "Sound of Silence". Percussion crashes through the thrust of the rhythm guitars, dual leads explode across the face and it just your ass off into the night.

There is nothing to be gained from this debut, or Balflare in general, if you don't have a thing for the symphonic metal strands perpetuated by the host of European bands that have dominated this genre. Rhapsody, Labyrinth, DragonForce, Gamma Ray, Dark Moor, Heavenly, Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius all come straight to the fore-mind. If those bands tickle you in a pleasure zone, then there's a good possibility you are at least going to enjoy the musical element of Thousands of Winter Flames. Whether or not you will enjoy Hideki Tada relies on your experience with traditional Japanese metal and the difficulties in early Engrish lyrics. He's got the pipes and he's certainly got a range, but he often decays in some of the verse passages, when he's not overdubbed with numerous voices. I personally enjoyed the debut to an extent, but they would go on to better themselves with future efforts.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.balflare.net/