Ancient Bards – Soulless Child

Releasedate: 15-11-2011; Label: Limb Music
By: Martine Goffard

Ancient Bards is an Italian band of power symphonic formed in 2007. “Soulless Child” is their second album. The first one, “The Alliance of the Kings” was out in 2010. Italians are very good at making pompous music, so this album, at first look, seems promising.

It starts with an instrumental intro with spoken lyrics. This sounds a bit like a soundtrack for a film trailer and creates the atmosphere for the rest. The voices of a choir lead to the second song and here we go with classic power metal. Speed guitars, high notes, fantasy stories, there’s nothing brand new here. Now, something is wrong. This really sounds like Rhapsody. Gates of Noland is an obvious copy of what the other Italian band does. It’s a bit the same for the whole album. We have the choirs, the harpsichord, the powerful chorus… Except that it really misses the emotional part, the slow dark passages, sacrificed to make it all more epic and fast. The singer, Sara Squadrani, has a nice, sweet voice but not powerful enough to hold the note and she screams in the heights (and there are a lot). Now the rhythm is well mastered, there are many good guitar solos. Each song is different but there’s never something catchy enough to make it unforgettable. The problem is the length of the songs. Four songs over seven minutes and one of 15 min.! It can be very good when you change the themes, work on the voices… Here it’s the same the whole long so you forget the start when you reach the end. They are well played but not well composed. All That Is True is a beautiful love song and the intro of Hope Dies Last is great, but it’s not enough. Valiant Ride is the one to remember. It’s catchy, fast, a good chorus. It’s the shortest one as well.
Soulless Child could be a good album if the band didn’t want to pass for a new Rhapsody (of Fire). Too much epic kills the epic. It’s grandiloquent but a song needs a soul as well. So, this is an interesting album, but far under a Down of Victory. Let’s hope they give more of their personal touch next time and work on the compositions.

Line up:
Claudio Pietronik – Guitar
Fabio Balducci – Guitar
Sara Squadrani – Singer
Federico Gatti – drums
Daniele Mazza – keyboard
Martino Garattoni – Bass

Tracklist: 01. Struggle for Life 02. To the Mast of Darkness 03. Gates of Noland 04. Broken Illusion 05. All that Is True 06. Valiant Ride 07. Dinanzi al Flagello 08. Soullless Child 09. Through My Veins 10. Hope Dies Last

Links:
Ancient Bards Facebook