FORCENTURY – Revelant

Forcentury is a traditional twin guitar Power Metal band hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark. These guys have been around for four years now and Revelant is their sophomore release. Their debut album Vanguard was released in 2009 with great critical acclaim. Forcentury clearly inherits most of their influence from the classic 1980’s Power Metal bands like Iron Maiden and Helloween. They incorporate solid riffs and battling guitar solos with smooth melodic melodies.

All of Forcentury’s compositions are completely riff driven. Guitarists Marc Masters and Jack Kijne work very well together to create an emotionally driven and authoritative sound. There is also a potent mix of Progressive style keyboards throughout the album as well. The keyboard element is something new and was only used sparingly on their first album. Thus, Revelant contains a much bigger and bolder sound. Forcentury makes full use of the keyboards to create much more intricate and complex compositions.

That being said, there is one huge downside to Revelant that makes it an incredibly troublesome listen. Vocalist John Thunder presents an exceedingly unnatural, emotionless, and all out boring vocal performance for the entire record. Thunder’s performance on Vanguard was certainly much more organic and moving. However, with the exception of the opening track, “Seal Of The Sinner,” there are absolutely no expressive qualities to Thunder’s vocals.

The vocal fiasco is undoubtedly a great shame. The compositions and musicianship on Revelant are borderline amazing. Tracks like “The Reductionist” or “Repercussions Of Terror” are very demonstrative musically; with brilliant guitar and keyboard work. However, without melodramatic and pretentious vocals, the songs simply lose all their meaning.

Thunder is not a bad singer by any means; he is a good talent with a decent range. There is a serious lack of inflection and a basic monotone sound throughout the album. It becomes annoying because the songs are so good, but it ends up sounding like a bad night at the karaoke bar.

In searching for a bright spot to Revelant, obviously the great materiality of work is a key player. The epic nine-minute final track, “Changing Ways” is a Power Metal thrill ride encompassing many classic styles to develop a very passionate melody. Additionally, the opening song “Seal Of The Sinner” comes right out of the Iron Maiden playbook to deliver a definitive twin guitar attack.

Forcentury needs to take a step backward, as they took too many steps forward with Revelant. They had a really good formula with Vanguard, and it worked to near perfection. Revelant would be a fantastic record if all the elements, mainly the vocals, meshed well together. Unfortunately, it will have to be back to the drawing board for Forcentury.