Heavatar – Opus I – All My Kingdoms

Releasedate: 22-02-2013; Label: Napalm Records
By: Thorsten Hendriks

Who has ever heard and/or seen “Van Canto”, will recognize the voice of Stefan Schmidt on “Heavatar’s” debut album “All My Kingdoms”. “Heavatar” is a new concept from the mind of Stefan Schmidt with assistance of ex-Stratovarius drummer Jörg Michael, David Vogt on bass and complemented by Sebastian Scharf, who is taking care of the lead guitar. The backing (choir)vocals are essential to the whole composition and are fulfilled by Hacky Hackman and Olaf Senkbeil (- who Stefan knows from the Blind Guardian choir session for ‘At the edge of time’) and Stefan’s friends from “Van Canto”.

The first track of the CD will immediately catch everyone’s attention as it starts with a metal version of the very recognisable and well known “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” by JS Bach, aptly named “Replica”. “Replica” follows the structure of the original song blended with a good mix of metal influences; heavy riffs, strong lead vocals combined with excellent musical skills of all the band members. The classical influences throughout the album compliment the arrangements created by “Heavatar” and vice versa. Recognizable melodies from classical arrangements make it a very pleasurable CD to listen to, sometimes even bringing out the air guitar and headbanging – especially on the heavier tracks like “Abracadabra”, “Elysium at Dawn”, “Long Way Home” and “Luna! Luna!”.

The third track which carries the same title as the album “All my kingdoms” has a very theatrical feel to it displaying a very well written musical composition accomanied by heavy guitar riffs and strong percussion with an undertone of keyboards keeping the link to classical influences alive, strengthened by the choral backing vocals. “Born to Fly” might remind the listener to the music of Metallica, as Stefan’s voice is very similar to James Hetfield’s. Clean and crisp sounds, playing with voices against a choral arrangement laced with bass, drums and guitar licks and riffs making you forget this is actually only a debut album of “Heavatar”.
Track 8 “The Look Above” starts off with gentle keyboard playing easing into the dulcet vocal tones of the lead singer. Just when you think you are being introduced to soft ballad the guitar and drums kick in and an 11.25 minute metal balled forms. The last track “To The Metal” is a bit of an odd one, compared to the rest of the tracks on this CD. Nothing more than lead guitar and main vocal for most of the song, displaying their ability to play various genres to a high standard. At the end the drummer joins in and this track is brought to an end instrumentally.

This new band sounds very promising and will place itself amongst the more established power metal bands, perhaps even outshining them! The combination of metal with classical influences is not new but “Heavatar” gives it a new dimension. Strong lead and choral backing vocals compliment the guitars and percussion and it all fits together seamlessly. If you like the combination of well composed and arranged power metal this CD would definitely deserve a listen! You won’t regret it.

Line up
Stefan Schmidt – vocals
Jörg Michael – drums
David Vogt – bass guitar
Sebastian Scharf – guitar

Tracklist: 1.Replica 2.Abracadabra 3.All my Kingdoms 4.Elysium at Dawn 5.Long Way Home 6.Born to fly 7.Luna! Luna! 8.The Look above 9.To the Metal

Links:
Heavatar Official