ICHABOD KRANE – Beyond Eternity
- by Matt Coe
- Posted on 28-10-2016
The sophomore outing from Ichabod Krane continues to embrace a lot of 1980’s melodic heavy/power metal themes. "Beyond Eternity" possesses the dark atmosphere and multi-octave singing prowess that put acts like Crimson Glory and Queensrÿche on the map, although the band still struggle in developing great riffs into full, memorable songs. At other times, more of a Dio meets Priest vibe exists in straight forward anthems such as "Whiskey Angel" or the double bass pumping opener "Black World".
Wülfhook singer Jeff Schlinz is one of the newer voices of the current generation to stand up and cheer for – his upper screams and note holding abilities puts him in the Tate, Halford, Dio, Rivera top tier plateau. Not thrilled again about the digital production that makes the drums sound very stiff and robotic- probably boiling down to a budget / home studio presentation, but it does sacrifice some of the impact that otherwise makes the guitars and vocals the focal point of the record.
"Beyond Eternity" is a classic 80’s heavy metal effort, nothing ground breaking but solid nonetheless.