CONSTANCIA – Brave New World

Brave New World – this name should ring the bell to everyone reading this. The twelfth studio album by Iron Maiden, first one to feature the band as a six-piece. Those who happen to have interests other than Metal may know that that title was inspired by a novel from the 30s. And this is still the tip of the iceberg because Iron Maiden are not the only band to have gone for Brave New World as an album title. Anyhow, back to the point, that book must have been a really powerful one since even now, in the early 2020s it inspire new bands to name their albums after it. Or maybe those brave new bands like Iron Maiden a lot. There possibilities are abound. Here’s the review of the 2021 Brave New World by a Swedish Metal band called Constancia.

The album starts off with the title track and those who expect the band to sound like Iron Maiden… well they won’t be disappointed. It strikes right away. But shame on those who turn it off thinking this is another Maiden rip-off band. Despite the clear Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of the Seventh Son influences, this music sounds like inspired by various factors. It certainly has a lot of that Nordic feel to it, typical to bands such as Sonata Arctica to name just one. Another thing that might strike the listener right away is the production: it’s really spot-on. It may be a little bit polished, but nowhere near too much. Also, the mix on the bass is just perfect and so are the keyboards that make a very beautiful background. Oh wait, that breakdown – that sounds a lot like that from “Ride the Lightning” by Metallica with the intro riff playing over it. Not often does it happen when a band combines the sounds of Iron Maiden and Metallica and the result is actually really good.

Then comes the second track “Forget Me Not” – barely above three and a half minute, but the amount of energy in that one would do for a five minute track easily. However, as the next song “Blame it on Love” starts, one thing becomes clear: the guys at Constancia love their synths! These particular ones sound quite a lot like those in “Jump” by Van Halen. And there’s nothing wrong with that – since a band as legendary as Van Halen could get away with a cheesy keyboard theme, why would Constancia not? Especially as the album gets more diverse with every song that comes. “Synchronistic” being the number four has very interesting keyboards and vocals in the intro, quite one of a kind compared to the rest of the album.

But there is something else that makes Brave New World interesting. Except having songs that might remind the listener of different bands, there are some songs here that might as well be a part of a PC game: some melodies featured in the sixth track titled “The Key” could easily be a part of the Age of Empires II soundtrack. All those who feel nostalgic about that game might approve of that song. If that is not enough, then “Stand Your Ground” which is the 8th track here can bring the soundtrack from the “Fight Club” to mind. Perhaps the guys at Contancia should consider doing music for multimedia seeing how good at it they appear to be.

Other than that, the album does feature some powerful and heavy riffs interspersed with quality solos. But compared to the stuff mentioned in the previous paragraphs, those features are not that exciting. Brave New World is a very original album and the final track “Open Your Heart” is where the use of keyboards is brought to a whole new level. Those who dig Red Hot Chili Peppers may find it similar to “Throw Away Your Television” off their 2002 release By The Way, despite not having an ostinato bass line going through the whole song. Or in other words, it’s like when an early NWOBHM band meets a Disco popstar from the late 80s.

As much as Brave New World is probably not the kind of stuff anyone would want to bang their head to or go crazy in the pit, it still is a very interesting record. Maybe the guys at Constancia are onto something revolutionary? It’s hard to say how high their chances are seeing as the pandemic madness is going to bother the mankind for a long while still, but it will be good to keep an eye on them once things are back to normal. Since incorporating anything-but-metal sounds to their music didn’t prevent Alestorm and Gloryhammer from becoming successful, why shouldn’t that happen to Constancia? They may be in a totally different place very soon.