Wings of Destiny – Kings of Terror

Some albums show their beauty right from the beginning, other albums must be listened to from the beginning to the end before you can truly appreciate them. Wings of Destiny’s “Kings of Terror” belongs to the latter group. The first song, for instance, begins with a super fast song that sounds like the band was trying to set up a new speed record. There is nothing wrong with speed in Metal of course, but it feels more like a “show off” song. Combine that with the vocalist’s shouting and you get the impression of a Metal band that went a bit overboard with the attempt to show heaviness through speed. Fortunately there is a development throughout the album. The next song, for instance, is still extremely fast paced but the vocalist is beginning to sound a tiny bit more melodic which befits the song quite well. After that another super fast beginning, but this time with some slower parts thrown in for variety. And yes, said variety makes the song much more enjoyable than it would be otherwise.

After that the spell is broken and you get a slow, acoustic beginning for the fourth song “Eye of the Storm”. After a while the electric instruments begin to kick in, but the song is still slow which is nice for a change. After that you get another slow song with the sound of wind blowing over a deserted place. A bit later a female vocalists joins in. She is not really singing though, but rather holding a note by using her voice like an actual instrument. After that, without a noticeable break, the sixth song begins. Pretty soon the vocalist, drummer and a pianist take over with another acoustic intro. Also, the male vocalist shows that he can also sing melodically (actually, he already did so earlier), while also trying to sound sad and maybe a bit melodramatic. In fact this works surprisingly well. When the female vocalist joins in for a duet the song finally its beautiful climax!

The 9^th “Touch the Sky” song is the next truly remarkable one. Yes, it is a bit on the cheesy side with lines like “mighty warriors” our swords will never fail”, “no hesitation inside us”, “feel the power inside you”, “touch the sky”, etc., but still fun with its mid-tempo speed and back pipes at the beginning. Manowar fans will likely love it! After that you get another acoustic song with “Eternity” which is a nice preparation for the full frontal assault that is about to come with “United We Stand”! High speed Metal, again a bit on the cheesy side, but fun!

Now, what to think of this? The label “Prog” fits the album due to its variety, but I am not sure whether the variety is really intentional, or whether the band is still trying to find itself. The vocalist, for instance, experiments with all sorts of ways of how to deliver his lines that I wonder whether this is truly intentional. The same goes for the differences in pace. You get extremely fast songs that are more about technical skills, you get songs that are considerably slower, you get cheesy Power Metal lyrics (This is NOT meant as an insult! Cheese can be VERY tasty!) and that is what makes the album a bit unpredictable, but also fun. 7 devils!