Elegy
Forbidden Fruit
Noise
Forbidden Fruit, eh? Perhaps this, Elegy’s sixth so far, should’ve been titled Forbidden, and we’re not talking the long-lost, underrated Bay Area stalwarts here. That’s not to say Forbidden Fruit’s a horrendous record – far from it, actually. But that’s also not to say it’s a great heavy metal record – as opposed to being merely a great power-metal one – which it certainly had the potential to be. In one respect, Elegy have finely sharpened their swords to a fine, less-prog point that culls from the best of the traditional Euro-metal school: the classy execution of Joe Lynn Turner-era Rainbow, the hell-bent-for-Autobahn overdrive of Thundersteel-era Riot (yeah, I know they’re American), guitar leads that’d make Yngwie’s ears perk up, and in frontman Ian Parry, pipes that approximate (and well) those of Ronnie James Dio. But in another, more accurate respect, there’s an intangible spark missing here, a spark that’d elevate Forbidden Fruit beyond the leagues of hollow power-metal conventions, a spark a few yards short of, say, Rainbow’s Straight Between the Eyes, the aforementioned Thundersteel, or Malmsteen’s Marching Out; in other words, so close it’s almost painful. Maybe next time, chaps.
Noise, 12358 Ventura Blvd., Suite 386, Studio City, CA 91604, http://www.us.noiserecords.com
