Metal Impressions III: Van Canto's "Hero"

Metal Impressions III: Van Canto's “Hero”

Greetings Rider fans, this is The Nightmare Rider with you all once again! Today I am reviewing one of the bands that inspired me to do this series to begin with; Van Canto. Who are Van Canto? Well you're probably not going to believe this if you don't know already; but they are an A capella metal band.

Now before you run away in terror screaming about how un-metal they are as Happy Viking nearly did, it must be made clear that this actually works. Yes, somehow in the most unholy black pit of Satan's left testicle, these guys have actually made the whole concept of A capella metal work. I can hardly believe it myself! And they do it with all the style and thick heaviness as any other of the awesome German metal bands of recent times. And lets not forget the cheese, oh the beautiful beautiful cheese! Just like any good Power Metal band, Van Canto pack a metric ton of cheese into their music making it even more compacted win in an awesome can.

So without further adieu, lets go a ruminaduminadumina our way through Van Canto's “Hero”!

Track 1: Speed of Light

The song opens with a heavenly a capella hymn before mixing in the “dom doms” guitar hums that define this band so well! Thankfully they use an actual drummer rather than a beat boxer so it feels more authentically metal. The female vocalist who introduces us to the lines “I have walked about a million miles, Step by step into the haze. To notice it it took a while, That circles where the ways I made. “ gives a big sense of both adventure as they begin their journey, having traveled so far they can barely tell how far they have come! Both Sly and Inga Shcarf really give a powerful punch with their vocals, adding to the sense of grandeur that comes with a song about traveling at the speed of light. And if you were scratching your head at how they managed to get such depth of a metal sound through voices alone, then wait until you hear the solo of this song. Yes, there is a guy doing a guitar solo with his voice. And it sounds just like your typical wahwah guitar solos from bands like Gamma Ray or Hammerfall, how awesome is that?! This is a fantastic introduction to both the band and the concept, blasting through all boundaries ahead of them and letting nothing get in their way!

Track 2: Kings of Metal (Manowar Cover)

FUCK YES! I LOVE Manowar, so the rumanumanuma sounds almost exactly like the Manowar in all their cheesy glory. This song NEVER fails to bring a smile to my face and you can tell by both the ego filled power voice of Sly (fitting name for this song!) and the cheesy grin he has in the music video that these guys are loving every moment of it. Few bands can match the overwhelming cheese and egocentric glory of Manowar, but Van Canto is one of those that can. You could say that the a capella vocals make it even more silly, which is never a bad thing if you ask me! Even the solo just perfectly reflects everything that this band is and how Manowar are here to kick ass and play some heavy metal (and they are all out of ass). Posers beware, because when a band like Van Canto are in town, you'd better turn off your by the numbers pop crap or generic rap BS, because Manowar interrupt this broadcast to BLOW YOUR MIND! These are the kind of guys you just wanna sit down, rock out and have a beer with. Both Manowar and Van Canto have the spirit and energy to prove that you don't have to take yourselves at all seriously while playing awesome metal. It's all about having fun and, as the both the video shows and the tone of the song implies, not giving having a single fuck to be given that day! And remember; Some other bands play – MANOWAR KILL!

Track 3: Pathfinder

The rolling randadadan chanting sets up for a spectacular sword and sorcery adventure right at the beginning of this song. This is all about a mystical shamanistic Pathfinder, summoning the storms to fallow the call, leading straight to the core. What exactly is he fallowing and trying to find? It's not really mentioned. We get allot of cheese about how powerful the pathfinder is, and even a nice almost native American esc chant in place of the chrous. But we just don't really get informed as to what exactly they are flying or what they are trying to achieve. Despite this, I still get a nice clear image of the cheroke shaman summoning the spirits of the call to lead out his tribe. The whole song feels very tribe like in general, so it still works in that respect. Just a shame they didn't quite fallow power metal writing 101; If you are having a quest or leading the way to something, say what it is to begin with!

Track 4: Wishmaster (Nightwish Cover)

Another cover that shouldn't really work, but somehow it does, and becomes awesome because of it! The riddelydidely and ton-don-ton-don really fits the guitar style of Nightwish. Add to this, Inga's voice is really majestic and almost comes up to the level of Traja's operatic singing style! If you can get out of your head any misheard lyrics videos you may have seen for a moment, the mysticism and high fantasy quality of the humming of tolkine inspired lyrics gives a vivid image of the mage leaving behind his loved one to study with (what I imagine to be) elves, mastering the arcane magics. The song also goes to show how Van Canto can adapt their a capella vocals quite well to the different guitar styles of each song. They have the deeper steady style of Manowar, while they have the more twangy keyboard infused styles of Nightwish, both matching the emotional power and intended attitude of both bands as well. Nightwish has a more mythical, fantasy epic sound to them while Manowar has a more brutal 80s ego epic sound. Any band that can adapt themselves so well to both deserves recognition in my book, especially when they are matching the speed, twangyness and emotional power behind a Nightwish song. Now if only they had an orchestra to cover Ghost Love Score with.....

Track 5: The Bards Song (Blind Guardian Cover)

By the lost eye of Odin, it's as if this song was MADE to be covered by a band like Van Canto! The simple “bum dadada dum” fits a capella so well it's almost scary! You can really picture them all as a group of traveling bards gathering round a camp fire and singing their song to the women and children sitting around to listen. They actually do a better job, dare I say it, than Blind Guardian at whisking us away to another time to sing “Tales of a great man, who lived far from here”. As a matter of fact, the placing of this song on the album is almost perfect, because it starts out with “Now you all know, the bards and their songs”, which is so very true! All of the songs so far has given us a perfect window into what kind of band Van Canto is and how they do their music. They show us perfectly what's inspired them and they know exactly what goes into the very heart of every heavy metal song that they cover. They take us somewhere special with every song that they make, as the chorus suggest when it says “Tomorrow will take us away. Far from home, Noone will ever know our names. But the bards' songs will remain.” which is also true for many bands, including Blind Guardian. Even if we don't know their names, their music will live on to take us somewhere special. This is a legendary song created by Power Metal legends themselves, Blind Guardian, covered by the awesome black magic of Van Canto.

Track 6: The Quest for Roar

Now this is one of their best original songs. A brief soft hum of the melody quickly turns into a powerful a capella blast. Sly gives an amazing sense of standing on the hill, leading a band of powerful warriors on the quest for epic metal. It's as simple as that! I refer to their fantasy imagery as very sword and sorcery, why? Because it is largely about personal journeys and personal quests rather than huge epic other worldly battles. Now there isn't anything particularly wrong with this, it just defines their style quite nicely in my opinion. Some of their songs such as this one do lack a bit of overall depth, but it's nothing too serious to be a big hamper if you ask me. They keep their songs with a nice upbeat tone, they have clearly stated their goal and push forward to fight with what they desire most deep in their hearts; Epic metal! And really, who can blame them for having such a worthy cause? They love Heavy Metal just as much as Manowar or any other band! This is a simple and fun song, really showing what Van Canto are capable of when it comes to original material.

Track 7: Stormbringer (Deep Purple Cover)

Now this was a big surprise for me to see! I never expected them to cover Deep Purple, but by Odin it actually works! But their rumadum dumadum intro perfectly matches the melody and rhythm of the deep purple song. Sly's voice once again gives the song a truly epic feeling that fits the nature of this song perfectly. You can just picture these guys standing on top of a huge mountain range, doing a tribal dance and summoning the storm. You'd better not get in their way, as they can and will blow you away with the sheer might of an a capella storm. I am starting to see why Deep Purple are considered early precursors to Metal from this cover; There is such a heavy driving force to it that is the foundation of every heavy metal songs. Adding to all of this, once again, Stefan Schmidt doing a guitar solo with his voice almost makes you forget that there are no actual guitars used in this cover at all! This is a perfect song to see any metalhead through the harsh winter weather ahead of us, no matter what storms may come our way!

Track 8: Take to the Sky

You know what I said about Van Canto being more sword and sorcery than High fantasy? This song fits this well. Van Canto's original songs all seem to be about overcoming your personal limits and flying away to complete a quest of some sort. But this one in particular is fantastically motivational. Belief in yourself will empower you to mound to any task! I can really picture this band flying on the backs of Pegusi and Griffons, riding into battle and chanting their way into the chrous with “I take to the sky, I look back from high above. I am on target For something beyond.” Once again they fail to specify exactly what they are flying for, but at least it still gives a great sense of majesty, flying across the landscape below to continue on with their quest. So lets fallow them on into the next track!

Track 9: Fear of the Dark (Iron Maiden Cover)

Now this is a cover song that just doesn't quite work in my opinion. It's not because I'm an Iron Maiden fanboy, but the original song was supposed to have an eerie and mysterious sound to it, with Bruce Dickinson's vocals a first giving a sense of calm and contentedness, but as the song progresses he grows more and more anxious and afraid, perfectly capturing how someone with a fear of the dark would react. The iconic lyrics “Have you ever been alone at night, thought you heard footsteps behind, turn around and noone's there. And as you quicken up your pace, you find it hard to look again, because you're sure that someone's there!” really reflects the anxiety of how you are sure that someone or something is catching up to you, but there is never really ever anyone there. Sly's voice doesn't really convey properly the same calmness that Bruce did, adding to the over use of the background a capella singers. It gives more depth and more sound than is actually needed at the start of the song. The rinidinidini and dooos fit for the main bulk of the song, but Inga's voice just cannot portray the same harshness or fear that Bruce Dickinson gives. She just doesn't sound afraid or anxious in the least! Now don't get me wrong, she is a good singer. I praised her quite rightly for her Wishmaster cover. But it just doesn't fit with a song like Fear of the Dark in my honest opinion. Also having her do the intro to the solo doesn't quite gel with Stefan's twangy voice when it comes to the solo it's self. It does work just after the solo and the solo it's self is very good. But it doesn't fit the balance or mood that the song was intended for, that's all. All this being said, this isn't a horrible cover by any stretch of the imagination. It's decent, just doesn't fit well with this particular shade of a capella. At the very least, it's still worthy of singing along to, so I give credit where credit is due.

Track 10: Hero

The final song of this album, fallowing quite closely the formula for Van Canto songs. Soft intro, before getting into the meat of a capella guitars, this time with a very primal chant of “Dum dum hero, dum dum hero”. But this song is less about heroic motivation, and actually a surprising change which instead sings about a warrior questioning if he should be considered a hero or not. I feel that the sound balance between the a capella singing and the vocals it's self is a bit off in this, since it's hard to make up exactly what Sly and Inga are saying. The lyrics themselves however are very well chose. They detail the fear and emotional reaction of the warrior as he can see an angel beckon him. It feels as though he is questioning, as the time of his death draws near, if he is worthy of rising up to heaven with the angel or not. In the end, even though they don't quite specify (again) what he has done, he does eventually accept that he is a hero with the outro chorus “Yeah, it is me they call hero. Yeah, it is me they await. Yeah, it is me they call hero, Heroes are there to change fate.” If it wasn't for screwing up the balance in this song, this would've been a nice emotional outro to finish off the album with. As it stands, it is the worst song on the album, but it was at least a decent effort with a small change of pace to see out the long roller coaster we've been on this album.

And with that, we conclude our look into the a capella German cheese fest that is Van Canto. Final thoughts; Why in the name of all that is the unholy chaos of the jammy universe was this so awesome?! Van Canto is a band that knows what they love and loves what they do. With one or two exceptions, they put their heart and soul into each song, understanding more about musical structure than I certainly can! With simple voices and a drummer they managed to capture the feel and the majesty of just about every metal song they touch while still coming out with their own unique blend of cheesy power metal. This album makes me grin every time I listen to it, and my jaw honestly hit the floor on multiple occasions when I heard covers of Wishmaster, The Bards song and Stormbringer. This is the kind of power and majesty that brutal crappy screamo bands like Attack Attack and Design the Skyline could only WISH they had! The spirit of metal is as present in these guys as it is with any of the traditional and power metal legends, so regardless of if they use guitars or a capella singers, they still manage to pull off amazing guitar solos and fill every line with such power and cheese that it's impossible to share the same fun and enjoyment that these guys put into every song. Of course they aren't perfect, nobody is! But the bottom line is, if metal is their business, their business is good! The gods of heavy metal have looked down upon Van Canto and they have seen that it is good.

Should you buy this album? Well ask yourself, do you like cheesy power metal? If so, then this is a MUST have for ANY power metal fan! If you like Manowar, Blind Guardian or Nightwish, then this is certainly for you. The album is quite recent so it shouldn't be hard to find at big retailers or online. Van Canto also have a new album that has just been released called “Break the Silence”, which features, for better or for worse, only one cover song. But I shall be sure to buy that and give you all my thoughts another day, for my Metal Impressions.

Until the next time, this is the Nightmare Rider, riding out!