Autumn
Altitude Metal Blade

by Matthew Hoffman
Staff Writer

Comments: Autumn the Dutch rockers are back with a new album on Metal Blade Records entitled Altitude. The band returns with their same familiar keyboard driven rock style but has brought in a new vocalist in the form of the lovely Marjan Welman. Welman adds a spirited, emotional and clean delivery to the mix.

The first song "Paradise Nox" is the albums best by a wide margin with heavy grooves, light beautiful vocals, heavy riffs and a short melodic guitar solo.

The rest of the songs are solid and tight and work well together as a cohesive album but rarely jump out and excite you.

Much of it lunges in and out of Goth inspired melodic hard rock, with much of it lacking enough guitars to really compete with powerhouse bands in that genre. In fact throughout much of it keys are used in lieu of guitars softening the mix a bit too much.

Bands like Nightwish and Tristania have the emotional vocals, the dominant keyboards but also a wonderful guitar lead when appropriate. Here the Van Der Valk brothers lay too far in the background and never surge forward enough to make their marks.

The end result of this delta in the music is an average never inspiring product that blends in and is decent but never better.

Several of the songs even lean towards pop rock and have Welman sounding like Bjork, a strange choice within hard rock or metal circles.

This is a curious effort to be on Metal Blade Records one of the worlds most aggressive, malevolent labels.

Hopefully this is a "one off" and Metal Blade comes to their senses.

The bottom line is Altitude is a weak album is not recommended for purchase.

Band Members:
Marjan Welman -Vocals
Jerome Vrielink -Bass
Jan Munnik -Keyboards
Jan Grijpstra -Drums
Mats van der Valk -Guitar, grunts & backing vocals
Jens van der Valk -Guitar & backing vocals

Track Listing:
1. Paradise Nox
2. Liquid Under Film Noir
3. Skydancer
4. Synchro-Minds
5. The Heart Demands
6. A Minor Dance
7. Cascade (For A Day)
8. Horizon Line
9. Sulphur Rodents
10. Answers Never Questioned
11. Altitude

Hardrock Haven rating: 5.2/10