I Have No Use For You, Now Die (Days Of Rising Doom: The Metal Opera - Aina)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Days Of Rising Doom: The Metal Opera - Aina
Date:	22/11/07 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice incorporation of orchestra beyond the usual standard of metal releases.

Disadvantages: A bland collection of power metal songs and rubbish ballads, disguised as a masterpiece.

I was pretty excited when I finally got my hands on 'Days of Rising Doom,' the sole release (so far) from a veritable supergroup of power metal that I remembered being unanimously applauded on this site a few years ago, but at the same time I was almost certain that it was going to be a disappointment for one reason or another; namely, if this self-proclaimed 'Metal Opera' didn't live up to either style. Unfortunately, it doesn't.

One of the many prominent figures in international power metal to grace this recording, Tobias Sammet had already released a similarly ambitious project with two albums under the name Avantasia, which also bore the collective title 'The Metal Opera.' Perhaps it was this idea of pushing the concept album idea further than before, utilising multiple vocalists in the guise of characters, that persuaded producer Sascha Paeth and the key musicians involved in the Aina concept to try something similar, while also aiming to beat what may have been viewed as Sammet's unsuccessful attempt at establishing a new genre. Although the Avantasia albums are completely excellent (much better than this, but I'll get to that in a minute), they are admittedly entrenched firmly within the power metal style of Sammet's day-job band Edguy with only a few notable touches attempting to branch out into something resembling opera. The big mistake made by the Aina creators was their misguided belief that employing a vast array of orchestration and drafting in some choirboys could enhance a collection of dull, basic and unimaginative metal anthems and rock ballads into something resembling a masterpiece.

Aina, or rather 'Days of Rising Doom' (though the titles are interchangeable, as this is the group's only release), is a perfect example of a flimsy, unremarkable idea resting entirely on the strength of a supremely talented but utterly misused all-star cast; I'm sure there are several films you can think of, where that the same thing applies. To their credit, the numerous vocalists representing the characters and providing intermittent narration are all pretty excellent, from the aforementioned Sammet who never fails to cheer me up when I hear his voice, making 'Flight of Torek' my most enjoyed song here for that reason alone, to Helloween's Michael Kiske and the excellent Damian Wilson, formerly of UK prog metal band Threshold as well as Valjean in Les Miserables and a load of other stuff. Surprisingly disappointing are the guest musicians, almost universally providing either a guitar or keyboard solo in selected songs, and it's this brevity that presents the real problem; superior projects of a similar style will usually offer an entire song to a guest performer and allow them to adapt it to suit their style (I'm thinking particularly of Arjen Lucassen's incredible Ayreon releases, the original and best metal operas), but here the performances from Stratovarius' Jens Johansson, Dream Theater's Derek Sherinian, Kamelot's Thomas Youngblood, Nightwish's Empuu Vuorinen and Erik Norlander (Lana Lane collaborator and husband) pass by all but unnoticed, serving mainly to attract progressive/power metal fans reading paragraphs like this and thinking, "ooh, that bloke."

The guests mean very little as the foundation itself is so insubstantial, and clearly - very disappointingly and quite laughably - aimed at achieving commercial success as much as peer recognition within the metal world. All the songs are kept to radio-friendly lengths and, as the second disc proves, are essentially the trimmed 'radio edits' formed from longer, though not necessarily more substantial material. Although presented as a double album release, the metal opera is confined entirely to the first (thankfully), with the second providing alternate versions and additional extras for those who liked what they heard on the main feature. Sascha Paeth has produced many acclaimed albums that all but defined the symphonic metal style worldwide from the late nineties to the present, from the early albums of Rhapsody to the later albums of Kamelot, but his technical credentials only stretch as far as granting a great clean and distinct sound to the instruments; the real creative work was a combined effort between Robert Hunecke-Rizzo, Michael Rodenberg and lyricist Amanda Somerville, who created the storyline and even developed Aina's own language that appears in a couple of songs for added authenticity and geekiness. The story itself is almost embarrassing clichéd and obvious, dealing with a battle for leadership over the kingdom of Aina, combined with a rubbish love story that's only there so Somerville gets to sing a bit alongside all the men. Power metal has never been particularly renowned for its lyrics and subject matter, and indeed there are plenty of worse and even more cringe-inducing album plots out there (as well as some really cool and imaginative ones as well, Ayreon again being prime example), but this hardly seems worth writing an opera about. Avantasia's plot was much better, and Rhapsody's five-album-strong 'Emerald Sword Saga' far more involved (some, such as myself, would argue: perhaps a little too involved).

Disc 1: 'Days of Rising Doom'

1. Aina Overture
2. Revelations
3. Silver Maiden
4. Flight of Torek
5. Naschtok is Born
6. The Beast Within
7. The Siege of Aina
8. Talon's Last Hope
9. Rape of Oria
10. Son of Sorvahr
11. Serendipity
12. Lalae Amer
13. Rebellion
14. Oriana's Wrath
15. Restoration

'Days of Rising Doom' substantially fails to satisfy as an elaborate metal production, beginning so far up its own rectum that it would have to be really impressive to escape, something it never manages to achieve (though this at least prevents it from being described as truly faecal). If the performers were a little less bombast, you'd even be fooled into thinking there was no running plot whatsoever; there certainly isn't anything in the way of repeating musical motifs to tie it all together, apart from a brief resurgence of an earlier choir towards the end, and the final track just sort of plods its way into a fade-out rather than showing off in the expected grand finale. Most tracks follow a tired power metal archetype of mindless double pass drum pedals behind a fast, pointless guitar, and the nice vocals and occasionally enjoyable lead guitar are played over the top. Bizarrely, these songs are presumably so involved in establishing the plot and finding time to squeeze all the orchestration into the background that no real attempt is made to make them memorable or catchy, with only a couple of exceptions in the way of 'Naschtok is Born' and 'Son of Sovahr.' At the other extreme, the truly operatic moments are sparse, first appearing half-way through in 'The Beast Within' and after that only in the sibling rivalry of later tracks.

Most of this album is technically metal, though not in an inspired, creative or even really enjoyable way, relying on a generic power metal sound that falls drastically short of the greats, whose members have been pilfered temporarily for this comparative failure. This means that 'Revelations,' 'Flight of Torek' and about half of the songs thereafter follow a traditional verse/chorus/solo structure and end before anything exciting has been permitted to happen. Worse are the rock ballads, that creep up with unnerving consistency and are matched by truly awful lyrics, the low point probably being the fluffy 'Silver Maiden' that has been accurately slated elsewhere for sounding like something from a Disney film. It's horrible, and has no place on an album proclaiming itself to be 'metal' (though even bands as definitively metal as Manowar have been guilty of similar atrocities in the past). The drums and bass don't even bear mentioning, apart from a brief summary: boring. As mentioned earlier, the orchestration is all intelligent and nice, but can't help to make these basic songs any more interesting just by adding atmosphere in the background - as was the case when bands such as Metallica and Kiss combined their own primitive back catalogues with a live symphony. The ambition is undoubtedly here, but it all falls apart under a lack of direction, or more accurately a well-meaning but incredibly unimaginative one. For a much better version of what is basically the same idea, check out Ayreon, Avantasia or any pretentious prog rock album that divides its tracks into Acts.

Even in the most generic release, there will often be something that stands out to catch the listener's attention, whether good or bad. It was sadly the latter for me, as the choice to draft in the Trinity School Boys' Choir on a couple of tracks provided an uncomfortable reminder of one particular breed of English child (among many in my wizened, curmudgeonly world view) that I would delight in seeing exterminated, rather than having to endure singing at me in cheery cockney voices as if they're in 'Oliver!' I hate those sweet boys.

Summary: A one-time prog-power metal project (2003).