Darktribe – Mysticeti Victoria

Releasedate: 24-08-2012; Label: Massacre Records
By: Martine Goffard

It’s a pleasure to introduce you a new, fresh metal band from France, Darktribe. It’s not very common to review a French power metal band and this one is surprisingly quite good. Their talent is rewarded by a recent signing this year with the Germans of Massacre Records and Darktribe could even get their first album mixed by the famous Finnvox Studios in Finland. No wonder Finland likes them, they sound exactly like Stratovarius. The young musicians of the band founded in 2009 display great guitar skills. You are just curious to know how they will sound in a few years with more technique, especially the singer Anthony Agnello who sounds sometime a bit short of breath on some high notes.

Mysticeti Victoria passes on an ecological message on the earth, the oceans and natural disasters. This results in a very refreshing and charming intro with a harp and dolphins’ singings. Now the main title on this album is definitely “Taiji”. To tell you that this song is good would be well under the truth. It blows your brain out. Fans of power metal will find there a masterpiece. It has all we wish for: an orchestra, wild guitars with epic solos and a rollercoaster tempo going from intense slow verses to frenetic crescendos and rumbles of the drums like waves. “Roma XXI” and “Black Meteor” are happy, dynamic tunes. “Lightning Guide” is the rock ballad. It sounds so 90’s! Here you may want to search your pocket for a lighter. Unfortunately, after “Eyes Have You”, the album makes a drastic change. The last songs are pure heavy metal with a strong Iron Maiden influence. Not that they are bad, they just don’t fit here. The band could have stop after “Eyes Have You” and made an outro of “From Us”. This would have made an excellent first album. Whatever, you should definitely find him a place in your playlist!

Line up:
Anthony Agnello – Vocals
Loïc Manuello – Guitars
Bruno Caprani – Bass
Julien Agnello – Drums

Tracklist: 1. Genesis 2. Taiji 3. Roma XXI 4. Black Meteor 5. Lightning Guide 6. Lost 7. Poison Of Life 8. Eyes Have You 9. Beware The God 10. From Us 11. Life, Love And Death

Links:
Darktribe Facebook