Ελληνικά
Genre: Gothic/Heavy Metal
Country: U.S.A.
Label: Eisenwald
Year: 2019
Mana is the first full album by the Americans Idle Hands. Yes I know, there is some talk about the record combined with the title and the thirst of the audience for new heroes -and the ease of the fans of the genre to follow messiahs- brings in mind cliché’s with biblical jokes. Coming out of nowhere, but let’s hold our horses for now. No, I’m not saying the album is not decent. It’s great. It’s not a masterpiece or the heavy metal album of the year. I would say it is not even pure heavy metal. Of course this is not a negative thing, especially because the album hides wealth and a variety of influences. The celtic cross in the cover of the EP that came before Mana isn’t simply nice, but reveals more stuff about the band than I had initially thought. Plenty of a gothic feeling for my tastes, so much Sisters of Mercy and similar bands in its sound. It’s not a surprise they tour with Tribulation (in the Northern Ghost Tour 2019). It’s also not surprising that their founder and bassist Gabriel Franco created them to find a shelter and creation medium since he was suppressed artistically in his previous band, Spellcaster (having in Idle Hands the guitarist S. Silva and drummer C.Vranizan from Spellcaster though). A positive is the warm production, well written composition and addictive melodies. A negative is the voice, which is not bad, but quite limited and should be overall bigger. They are not the new Eternal Champion, or the new Sumerlands, and like the case of Sanhedrin, we have a very good album in our hands that honors its creators, but is far from the next big thing. The foundations for something that will keep us busy for years have been set though. It is worth it to invest on this (maybe) more, if you liked and misses “Sister” by In Solitude. The album is out on the 10th of May, 2019 through Eisenwald.
4/6
