celesty vendetta

Released: 11 May 2009 Label: Spinefarm UK

Think of symphonic power metal from Finland… and you have Celesty. If you know what to expect from this genre, you’ll pretty much know before you even put the CD on what this is going to sound like. Celesty don’t disappoint; all the traditional criteria are met. There’s big orchestral arrangements, dramatic keyboards, operatic backing vocals (in this instance from a professional choir), galloping drums, and of course, lyrics about lifting your swords in the air and going on epic journeys and battles.

According to the band’s own press release there are at times over 300 tracks playing. This is pretty impossible to try and comprehend. But the result is an epic soundscape of well-executed uplifting power metal. Celesty live in a mystical created world of legends and warriors and fantasy inside their own heads, but it sounds great and I’ve certainly been in worse places! The keys and strings work perfectly with the more metal aspects of the band.

There’s some variety on the album, it’s not at all overkill on the choirs and operatic elements…Greed and Vanity is almost thrash metal with super sped up drumming and great guitar solos for example.

Like Warriors is the rather predictably clichéd track lyrically, “Like Warriors … raise your swords up high”. But it’s catchy as hell and I bet on the quiet there’ll be a fair few listeners automatically raising those imaginary swords up during every chorus and chanting along with the racing drums and soaring vocals and peaking with the great key changes.

The band gallop frantically through the story, invoking images of various fantasy scenarios, before finishing with a fourteen minute epic, Legacy of Hate Pt 3. Starting with haunting female vocals we’re led through a masterpiece of atmospheric and dramatic musical emotions. It’s a stunning composition.

There’s very little to pick fault with on this offering. Vendetta is a wonderfully well-written and fantastically produced album. Antti Railio’s vocals are much improved, with more emotion on this album. It’s really enjoyable and seems to convey the reinvigoration and new inspiration of the band. Most power metal fans will love it.

by Lynn Wyeth