STORMAGE are a German Power Metal band formed in 2003. Ashes of Doom is their fourth album and released by El Puerto Records.

I'm going to be honest and say that I'm not that familiar with Power Metal with the only band I've listened to being UNLEASH THE ARCHERS which I really enjoyed.

So wearing my best Viking helmet, armour and shield, I dive in to the first track which is a short though very atmospheric instrumental before "Beyond The Horizon" tears out of the speakers on galloping drums and heavy guitar. It's a good opening track with a clear punchy production and some spirited lyrics:

"Fight everywhere - beyond the horizon
Fight to the end - come and see the world beyond your eyes."

It ends on a crescendo of drums and guitar and is a catchy track, if a little cheesy.

"Deniers of Reality" begins with a one minute intro and there's a definite Spanish feel to the chorus which is very catchy but I'm not sure of the vocals. Heiko's voice is decent but it doesn't blow me away and seems to be buried a bit low in the mix to decipher the lyrics.

"Fierce As A Dragon" again has the vocals sounding muffled in places though the backing vocals are very clear and effective. There was part of this song that reminded me of EPICA's choral vocals.

On "Our Latest Endeavour" some gentle tinkly keys make way for a barrage of heavy drums and riffs. It's got another good chorus and Heiko's voice is much clearer mainly because of the stop/start nature of the main riff. It seems that when the heavy bits come to play, they should have raised the level of the vocal mix to compensate as it would prevent a muddied production.

Unfortunately as the album continues, it just seems a bit over familiar. "Bloodshot Eyes" has a heavy melodic riff but the chorus fails to excite. "Put The Hammer Down" has a fast thrashy riff but the backing vocals get a bit dull (and they're on EVERY track) and whilst the track has some punchy riffs, the chorus made me want to pick the hammer up and smash out a better one.

The final track had the vocals more prominent and though the chorus was more a mantra as it's repeated endlessly, it's decent and conveys a horde of Vikings on their return trip home after a rapin', pillaging and a plunderin'. Well that's what it conveyed to me anyway though of course Vikings weren't German.

I have mixed feelings about this album. On first listen whilst I was doing some cleaning it seemed pretty good but on a closer inspection with a decent set of ear buds, it's shortcomings were apparent. There are some decent songs here but some just failed to excite me and having the backing vocals on every track became a bit too cheesy. The vocals were buried a bit too low in the mix and whilst the overall musicianship is very good, the songs aren't particularly memorable.