PERPETUAL ETUDE – Now Is The Time

Top of the class students

Now Is The Time for yet another young band inspired by classic Heavy Metal and Hard Rock inspired to release their debut album. Excuse this reviewer for this poor joke, but she could not resist. Perpetual Etude, an interesting name as it is. Beautifully illustrated with a Gustavo Sazes artwork (Angra, Machine Head, Gus G., Steve Harris and many, many illustrious others). Perpetual Etude is a gathering of very keen students of Rainbow, Malmsteen and Europe. Formed in 2019 by Magnus Mild, Perpetual Etude gathers members from Northtale, Dionysys and Shadowquest.

Quality over quantity

With eight songs Now Is The Time, is compact and straight to the point, with an excellent production to better appreciate a timeless sound. “I’ve Got the Power” is a very strong beginning. The song is an absolute banger! Krystian Fyhr on vocals has the perfect range for the genre. He reached the highest notes seemingly without effort and alternates rightfully between an aggressive and softer register.

Magnus Mild, on guitars, does an excellent job as well: he is not showing off with soli sounding overly technical. You can hear an acute sense of melodies and balance throughout the compositions. Since “I’ve Got the Power” is such a flying start, “Show Me” and “Straight Through the Heart” appear only paler in comparison, though they are good compositions. But there is no risk of a slump. “Once we were one” and ” Hell Fire Burn”, with their keyboards flourish, come as a surprise. With this album, you have to admire the efforts made on the different atmospheres. From classic Hard Rock to melodic Heavy Metal, there is a song for every taste on the album. “Hell Fire Burn” deserves a special mention with its gospel backing vocals. Maybe this is a far stretch, if you pay close attention, you can discern a Pat Benatar vibe on the last song “Our Love”.

Now Is The Time, is overall an excellent debut album. You can only regret that it is a bit short. It is in fact rather surprising that they did not try their hand in the difficult exercise of The Soapy Ballad… True enough, these days, dance floors and slow dances are out of fashion. Maybe next time.