NATHANIA – The Weight Of Obligation

A Metal nation on the rise? Well, at least a remarkable release from a new band from Thailand, a country which was not on the Metal map for most bangers so far. But Nathania demand to be heard with The Weight Of Obligation, their second release after the self released debut which will most certainly be unknown to most. In contrast to that CD, the new album features a new singer, and his country of origin wipes away the fear of another thin, high pitched, English language abusing Asian Metal voice: Sweden. Daniel Sandberg has a powerful voice which reminds at time of a less rough Robin McAuley – listen to “Lost Soul” – and which can travel between Power Metal, like in the great title track, and raw thrashy vocals as in mid-tempo “It’s Messing Me Up”.

The basic style of the four Thai and one Swede is classical Power Metal as one can witness in the opening song or “Lost Soul” with occasional influences ranging from neo-classical like in “Immortality” or “The Fragile Body”, which sports a great solo part and sounds definitely Scandinavian, for which the works of Mr. Y “Fuckin’” M from S. in S. are to no small part to blame, to Thrash as in the track mentioned above. Always of high quality: the two guitar layers Tony Yasran and Sc Sang, who can meet the international competition head on and manage to demonstrate their skill in every song. Demonstrate? More than that! They hit home every time, with rushing chords and furious clusters of notes circling one’s musical mind like a swarm of hungry wasps around a jam jar.

The guys do not win the prize for originality, but the fans of “I want it fast, but melodious” get what they long for. The highlight on The Weight Of Obligation is the song “Lord Of Your Mind”, where Nathania pick the best of US Metal and Metallica and shoot the track immovably into a geosynchronous orbit into one’s CD player, where it circles for a long time.

The album contains four more songs which show a little decline in quality to that great six-pack mentioned above. There is the inevitable ballad “Light My Way”, which is not bad, but in which Sandberg cannot shine as much as he does during the faster songs. The criticism on the bonus track “The Paradox Of Life” – bonus track? Bonus compared to what, anyway? – is in a similar vein as it is the heaviest song on the album for over two and a half minutes, but needs over two minutes of foreplay and another minute to be ended afterwards. It is still interesting, more progressive than the other songs, but although anything but bad needs more time to get used to especially since Sandberg sounds strained to appear evil. The other two are intro and outro, both reminding of a movie score. Good, but that is not what we want to hear, is it?

That means six top tracks, two good ones, embedded in a mediocre production which leaves room for improvement especially in the drum section. But still, this is great stuff for traditional Metalheads who want exotic, but quality Metal, like to roam the underground to find new raw gems and can see themselves listening to a band somewhere between Rising Force, Angra, Astral Doors, Rage, Firewind and fast songs from McAuley/Schenker Group.