Epic Power Metal from Germany. That is what HUMAN FORTRESS brings to us. In the twenty six years the band has been together up to now these guys from Hanover gave us an EP, a compilation album and six studio albums. They all missed my attention. Now, with “Stronghold” that is being corrected. What surprised me most when I researched the band was the lack of demos, singles or splits they have in their discography. What I listed is what is there, and to me that says that HUMAN FORTRESS take themselves really serious and are not in the habit of sharing what they have written, rehearsed, recorded anything they do until they have achieved the finishing of the recordings they have. In the current climate I feel that such is an achievement in itself, as just about everything is being leaked left, right and centre.

Musically there is no way around the way HUMAN FORTRESS plays their music. this is Epic, this is Power Metal, and these guys are very well-equipped to bend what they make into a shape that fits them down to a T. There isn’t a song that doesn’t fit, there is no note that has been put wrong, there are no mistakes or mishaps on “Stronghold”. What I like most about the music is the sound of the guitars. At times you can’t escape the fact that they sound like METALLICA. Just listen to “Pain”, and you’ll have to admit that some of the riffing in conjunction with the guitar sound came from one of their albums. And that happens more often, although the opening guitar riff on “Mesh Of Lies” reminds me of PANTERA as they used on “Power Metal”. Is that a bad thing? Not at all, as HUMAN FORTRESS isn’t trying to copy anything, they just adopted that part as one section of their own sound.

What I do miss with everything being played and recorded to perfection is pure emotion. The songs on “Stronghold” are good,  have all the ingredients you would wish to hear and like when listening to this kind of Epic Power metal, but even though I really enjoy the way that HUMAN FORTRESS sounds, the end result is just that bit too clinical for my taste. I would have liked the band to let loose, to go for broke. Now the boundaries have been strung too tight, and that is a pity. The closest they come is on the most powerful songs on the album, “The Abyss Of Our Souls” and “Under The Gun”.