MARSHALL – Pages From The Past: Tome I

Heavy Metal is built on a foundation of power, speed, and raw energy that few other musical genres can touch. Some Metal bands have found success by taking those ingredients and mixing in pomp, circumstance, and historical fact (or fantasy) to create epic songs and albums. Bands like Iron Maiden, Rhapsody, and Running Wild have given fans many solid “epic” songs over the years.

Marshall, a five-man band from Italy, could be classified as an “epic” band. The title of their second album, Pages From The Past: Tome I, gives an illusion of grandeur, and the 10 songs on the album deal with such things as historical battles, epic sea voyages, and devastating volcanic eruptions.

Marshall also uses classical instrumentation and operatic vocals from time to time — yes this is a “big” album, or it would at least like to be.

Pages From The Past: Tome I is an album where there is quite a bit going on most of the time, giving listeners plenty to take in: lots of lengthy instrumental passages (usually involving keyboards of some sort), operatic backing vocals, acoustic guitar work, and spoken-word interludes. Vocalist Bruno Masulli is quite versatile, providing backing vocals, harsh Death-style growls, and some choral duties in addition to his regular vocals. Masulli has a fairly good voice, but his accent takes some getting used to initially.

Guitarist Joe Dardano shows some skill too, tossing out some good lead work, decent solos, and solid riffs. He even plays a banjo on this album. Dardano won’t blow you away with his flashiness, but he certainly has skill and versatility, handling both lead and rhythm guitar duties.

While the pieces are certainly in place for a good Epic Metal disc, Pages From The Past: Tome I doesn’t make as big of an impact as Marshall probably hoped it would. It has a disjointed, inconsistent air to it: one song might have Death-metal growls and Thrashy guitars, while the next has Operatic arias and Deep Purple keyboards, followed by noodling acoustic guitar passages, tinkling pianos, and some ripping riffs. Pages From The Past: Tome I is all over the place in terms of style, and never really finds a consistent tone.

One other problem this album has is length: some of the songs here are very long. Too long. Discounting three short tracks that serve as intros, most songs on Pages From The Past: Tome I are around six to seven minutes long. Two songs are seven minutes, one is nine, another is nearly 11 minutes, and another two are about six minutes each. There’s nothing wrong with long songs, but they run the risk of becoming boring after a while. That’s what happens on this album: potentially solid songs like “Thermopylae” and “Krakatau” seem to go on forever, because Marshall just can’t resist the temptation to throw in lengthy intros and instrumental passages, even if the songs don’t need them.

On an album full of long songs, it’s ironic that the two best songs are also the shortest (not counting intro tracks): “Flowers From Hell” and “Knights Of The Black Cross” work the best, with punchy riffs and catchy rhythms. They get in, make their point, and get out. “Human Quest” is pretty good too, with some nice riffs and vocals, although it does go on a bit too long. But, on this album, that’s not a surprise.

Marshall’s Pages From The Past: Tome I is a decent (but unfocused) album trying to claw its way out from under a pile of excess and inconsistency. There’s some very good music on this disc, but finding it can take a bit more effort than some are willing to give.