MONSTER’S WORLD OF METAL

Forgotten Tales - The Promise

Canadian metal had a moment of glory in the past. Past couple of years, the Great White land to the north has received the short end of the stick from abroad. Maybe our bands are 'too' underground. Maybe someone is mismanaging their resources of exposure or simply we don't have enough talented bands up here. Happily so, not too long ago, record and media folk have been raving about our Into Eternity. Hopefully this year someone will have their fluids streaming for Forgotten Tales hailing from the province of Quebec. My first contact with this band was when they rocked a capacity crowd of 1600 in Montreal last year opening up for Nightwish.

Forgotten Tales, fronted by Sonia Pineault and her sky-scraping melodic ranges, mesmerized the metal heads to cover tunes of Rhapsody, Angra, Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius (to name a few). As a debut release "The Promise" equates to cliché metal but music influenced by European melodic power metal (i.e., Helloween, Blind Guardian, Runnng Wild, Sonata Arctica, Gamma Ray and so on). FT power metal doesn't necessarily always focus around speedy generated bass drums. It is a very casual form of power metal really. They do possess that fantasy component (the last 4 songs attach one another to make up an epic tale) but they have acquired a taste for the intermittent catchy hook, crunchy riff that are structured around the smooth-lunged melodies and harmonies of Sonia. Choruses and melodies float around Sonia. She lightens the music to a degree of keeping you involved.

An example would be the track "Cold Heart". Her voice also can carry then again it can also create a certain atmosphere. If you listen to the cd non-stop until the fourth song "Far Away", you will notice a comfortable crease wherever you are sitting. Melancholy is not what I'm talking about rather a calm melodic flow. Although it ranks as a power ballad with a folkloric intro it streams to a nice upwelling of Autumn Tears comparisons and the likes. The Promise is a cd in which is a good effort if you look deeply into it. It certainly isn't the best and there is definitely a lot worse out there. They show signs of heavy and crunchy power metal yet prefer to distant themselves from it when they can in place for slower melodies.

The creativity aspect for Ft on their debut is ok and not new. You get the impression they were being too careful in their writing process. Probably concentrating on not sounding like their influences. It does take a while for it to sink it but it crests right in. In a whole, simply well done easy-going melodic power metal despite the obvious sampling techniques heard. Lastly, after seeing Forgotten Tales live and getting a taste of them in the studio, I might be out of place for saying Sonia can do a lot more. For someone who has high range and lung air capacity, she sure sounds like she has held back some. First album and all but you will see the music evolution aspect in it's developing stages with hints of successful aspirations.

Note : 7,5/10