Symphorce

Godspeed (Metal Blade)
by Martin Popoff

Andy B. Franck is, of course, one of the coolest dudes in power metal. He’s taken Brainstorm to new heights, and he’s a big reason Symphorce has executed an inexorable march to the top of the most high-minded of post-power pantheons, a perched Falconer by their side. Along the lines of rock-sculptured records by Evergrey, Morgana Lefay, Chris Caffery, and Nevermore, Godspeed finds this band stonewalled with heaviness, but progressive in all the creases. Dennis Ward’s mercilessly bright production almost becomes necessary, given the stops and starts, the rhythmic maelstroms, the huge and hovering riffs everywhere. Experimentation is everywhere, Franck’s voice variously treated, sent high, or sent to grind, soaring or even near mumble, while the band sort of batters the listener about the face, arms, and upper torso, no matter what the speed. It all comes to a head for “The Mirrored Room,” which makes canny use of a crouching verse against an impossibly buoyant chorus. Classic stuff, although some of these moves are going to enter the realm of controversy, and maybe even a few of them don’t deserve to emerge unsullied.
(www.metalblade.com)