MIDNIGHT FORCE "Gododdin"

MIDNIGHT FORCE

“Gododdin”

You can’t overestimate the importance of vocals to a band’s music. MIDNIGHT FORCE is a great example of this axiom. Not sure where this band hails from, but they play epic heavy metal in the tried and true tradition, with a touch of pagan folkiness to them. It’s a very familiar formula that bands have been plying since the earliest days of MANOWAR, MANILLA ROAD and the NWOBHM, but strong riffs and tasty guitar playing can carry the day.

That is, until the singer of MIDNIGHT FORCE opens his mouth. And then things go south in a hurry. I don’t mind nasal vocals or vocals with an accent, but when the tones are flatter than a stretch of Iowa highway, it really hurts. This guy has almost no inflection, no timbre, no variation. At times, it can be tolerated, especially when the rest of the band is in the midst of a meaty jam, but for the most part, it just kills the momentum of the music dead. And it seems to get worse as the record goes on, until “Parthia” and “Over the Phantom Sea” are pretty much shoved into an open grave by the clueless singing. I try to imagine what guys like OMEN’s J.D. Kimball or HAMMERFALL’s Joacim Cans could have done with these tracks.

A real shame, because with strong vocals, “Gododdin” could have been an exceptional record. But I just can’t ignore the lack of said vocals.

PURE STEEL

MIDNIGHT FORCE