Customer Reviews

Coming from the Sky

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A band doesn't have to revolutionize a genre to add to it. The more great musicians and talented writers you include the better. Did you ever wonder why all power metal bands sound similar? Maybe it's because they ALL have talent! Clean crisp lyrics, driving percussion, and the occasional tear-jerking guitar solo make this a genre that is easy to fall into and impossible to escape! Heavenly have all of that, along with a heavier useage of male "power-choir" choruses, which really get your blood pumping and make you sing along!! A great choice of an album to add to your collection.

...I own every Gamma Ray CD in existence, not because every album is "totally unique and bears no similarity to anything else before it", but because "every album is packed full of well-orchestrated and powerful music that every Power Metal group should adhere to." Heavenly are no exception.

...if you like Gamma Ray or other such power metal groups like Stratovarius, etc.. you *will* enjoy this album. I can honestly say it's not my absolute favorite (it's sooo hard to choose one these days - but it would probably have to be Sonata Arctica: Ecliptica), but I do listen to it quite often in my car!

Power metal is a lifestyle. You listen to it, live it, breathe it.

Gamma Ray fans watch out for this one. Heavenly is up their with the likes of Gamma Ray, Helloween, Iron Saviour. In fact, Kia Hansen and Piet Seilk were both involved with helping Heavenly release this monster power metal CD. Every track on it is perfect. This is one CD that should be in everyone's stereo.

...I was captivated by the opening riff which really sounds how you would expect a band called Heavenly to sound...heavenly! I think my favorite track would be Carry Your Heart. i think it gets the closest to what i'd expect them to sound like. Very Helloweenesque at times, actually i think Kai Hansen helped produce/record this album or something. hard to remember.

...ive been ever watchful for their album to be released here, and now it has!...

Winners of the "Be Your Own Label" contest held by Noise Records, France's Heavenly are a progressive/speed metal outfit in the vein of late 80's Helloween. Coming from the Sky is the record that resulted from the band's first recording session and was met with a rather cold reception from the press. While the album would fair better with the public than professional critics, how does this debut stack up in today's world? A lot better than one would think.

As one would expect the music on Coming from the Sky drenched in all the typical trappings of Euro power metal style and offers no apologies for it. Lead vocals soar and choruses are backed up with enough force that one can literally imagine that a small, hardened platoon was hired to sing them. Solos are long and lengthy as are the songs themselves, tackling subjects like battles and perseverance that have become the calling card of the genre. It's not as drawl as this explanation is making it out to be, but the experience is derivative when it's at its worst and its best. Things start off with the opening intro. While having an opening intro is a cliche in itself for a power metal album, no one will doubt this is a power metal album upon hearing this. Tongue-in-cheek as it is, the funny part is how unnecessary it is once "Carry Your Heart" comes across ones speakers. Following up this ode to love is the strong and stout "Riding Through Hell" that instantly conjures up the images of kings, crowns and kingdoms.

Things quickly take a turn for the worse with "Time Machine." Of all the tracks on the album, it's painfully obvious this wayward creation received the most attention with its trio of vocalists (Ben Sotto, Kai Hansen and Piet Sielck) yet fails to yields anything of value. The performances fit the song like a glove since it sounds like a low-end Gamma Ray number, but in reality, it's the kind of thing people use to exemplify how power metal beats the same old drum. Disruptive as "Time Machine" really is, it does little to derail the seductive "Number One" or a ferocious number like "Our Only Chance" that can round a corner on a moment's notice. The album revisits its opening notes with the short and sweet "Fairytale" before returning to the fray with the "My Turn Will Come" which is unfortunately the last moment of magic as "Until I Die" and "Million Ways" finish the album off in rather weak fashion.

While I'm sure some will obviously question the value of a release that bears no real evolution over the nearly twenty year-old material it takes influence from, there are times things are enjoyable because they feel so familiar. This describes Coming from the Sky to a tee. It's far from inspiring (well, "Carry Your Heart" has been known to jazz me up something fierce) and can be rather flat at points, but this is a case where I prefer to be an optimist despite the obvious drawbacks. I'd recommend others to do the same.

You cant go wrong with Heavenly,all thier cds rock.Not many bands out their that have a vocalist with such a veriation in thier singing styles. The range is exellent.This band has influences from some of my favorite bands early on, but yet have their own distictive sound.

Heavenly is power metal's version of bands like Cold Sweat, Valentine, Gypsy Rose, and a plethora of other pop metal bands that sprung up in the very late 80's and early 90's trying to cash in on the popularity gained by bands like Warrant, Poison, etc. Like these bands, Heavenly has nothing to add to the genre. Maybe if I liked the singer, I could give this 3 stars.... This is a... fine time to be a fan of heavy metal - a lot of talent out there. There used to be only one Bruce Dickinson. Now they are popping up all over the place.... Only die hard powermetallers will (blindly) appreciate this.

Heavenly is one of the 47 million European power metal bands that write terrible music. That means: pedestrian songwriting, simplistic arrangements, inane lyrics, overproduced drums, and guitar solos that...well, actually, the guitar solos are pretty melodic and decent.

Picking a song highlight is impossible....... I think my favorite, though, is "Carry Your Heart", but not for any of the right reasons. The vocalist's delivery is so hilarious that it always makes me laugh. When he yells, "SPIRIT OF MY LIFE!!" and "CLIMB A MOUNTAIN, TOUCH THE SKY!!" he sounds so ridiculous I'm not sure whether I should cringe or stitch up my sides from the rip-roaring hilarity of it all. A third option comes into play...stop the CD and light it on fire. It's a popular choice, I'm sure.

Anyway, this album is bad and you'd be better off spending your money on a Coke.