STONELAKE – Marching On Timeless Tales
- by Matt Coe
- Posted on 26-06-2011
Fifth album from this Swedish quintet, who straddle the lines of progressive metal and melodic hard rock on “Marching On Timeless Tales”. Lead singer Peter Grundstrom reaches the Tony Harnell upper register, but unfortunately with the power and conviction of Stephen Pearcy from Ratt. Which is a shame as a lot of the material musically recalls the best TNT (circa “Realized Fantasies) and Elegy (first three albums) moments like opener “Red Canyon”, the slamming hard rock anthem “Lay Down The War” and majestic, outer world “Enter The Temple”.
It’s so much more important in melodic metal to have a solid singer than in any other sub-genre of the craft. A vocalist needs to maintain that line between ingenious, in key singing while also not shouting or screaming too much to run certain listeners away. Stonelake will struggle to gain much of a broad base swell of appeal if Peter continues to live in falsetto land without gaining a touch more conviction or control.