THE ASTRAL PROPHETS

THE ASTRAL PROPHETS     “Invasion”

By Dr. Abner Mality

These Prophets hail from Calgary, Alberta and foretell of an alien attack on old Mother Earth. Once a novelty, sci fi bands are common these days and they need a very strong concept and music to go with it if they want to make an impact. What fate is in store for “Invasion”?

Although labeled as “power groove”, what we’ve got here is mostly straight up power metal, but with a very poppy vocal approach. I was hoping for something in the vein of IRON SAVIOR or ETERNITY’S END, but this is a little bit too sweet for my taste. The metal is there, especially on first track “Target Locked” as well as “Into Nothing”, but vocal lines are consistently uber-melodic. Female vocalist Staci Stardust has a lot of pop diva in her delivery and doesn’t seem to have the lungpower of EPICA’S Simone Simons or FROZEN CROWN’S Giada Etro. Thankfully, the poppiness doesn’t reach the excruciating heights of something like BABYMETAL but I’d like to see a gutsier vibe. There are also a lot of extremely multi-tracked vocal bits, which give THE ASTRAL PROPHETS an unusual touch. On the title track, there are layers upon layers of both male and female vocals, some quite robotic, and it’s a sound I’ve not heard a lot in metal. So points for originality there.

Otherwise, the approach is clean and rapid power metal with lots of sci-fi keyboards. They add a cinematic touch but aren’t overdone to the point of being symphonic. It’s pleasant listening, competently delivered, but not what I’d call exciting. A great sci-fi concept would have helped a lot, but the lyrics are disappointingly banal. “You wanna fuck with my shit/You better know, you’re standing in my way.” Not exactly mind-expanding cosmic philosophy there.

So I have to put THE ASTRAL PROPHETS in the category of “OK, but not much more”. There’s plenty of company in that part of the galaxy.

THE ASTRAL PROPHETS