The Citadel
The Creeper EP
6.1
The Citadel is a five-piece group from Sweden whose finely produced three track EP entitled The Creeper (two songs actually, with a radio version included for one of them) is only a small taste of what’s to come on their debut full-length album – Brothers of Grief – scheduled to be released later this month via the GMR Music Group. What we have here is a band that blends together a less complex Fate’s Warning-ish vibe with an even less intricate Dream Theater and King’s X like sound that does the band well when it comes to the meat of the songs, but when we get to the choruses we’re talking a catchy-natured aura that unfortunately brings a band like Starship to mind. Vocalist Jonas Radehorn has a hint of John Arch and Doug Pinnick in his repertoire and he’s an extremely well-schooled singer, and with the help of guest female vocalist Susie Päivärinta, the first of the original songs - and the EP's title-track - is the definite stronger of the two efforts on hand. The song has a chunky and somewhat hefty feel at the start as Radehorn and Päivärinta exchange lines with one another during the verse, but things take a turn for the worse when the chorus comes along with its poppy littered hook (think latter day Heart meets Starship…not how I like my metal). The lead guitar work of Kenneth Jonsson is quite complementary, however, but neither the silky lead tone nor the well placed and finely executed guitar solo save the song from being a feeble attempt at a cash hungry radio hit. "The End" is the second of the two original tracks that again starts out promisingly enough with a mid-tempo, chug-worthy riff, but again, like its predecessor, takes a turn toward another memorable and catchy chorus that completely ruins the metallic vibe that it so movingly began with. Judging from the two songs on the release I just get the feeling that the upcoming full-length will showcase a set of songs that are too formulaic, in that they'll have some promising moments around the edges, but at the center you'll get too much fluff for them to appeal to folks who like their metal music a bit more rugged and burly. All in all the effort is produced well, the musicianship is definitely solid enough, but the choruses are just too damn reminiscent of slower natured 80’s style rock tinged chick-glam that, at least in my opinion, doesn’t have too much of a chance in the world of today’s metal scene. Again, this is just a small taste of what’s to come and it’s certainly possible that there might be some less 'accessible' sounding numbers that will hopefully come across with a bit more vigor and flair, but judging from this little EP I’m not keeping my fingers crossed.
