Crystal Ball
Deja Voodoo
(Massacre Records)
Swiss melodic metallers Crystal Ball have recently completed their ninth recording on Massacre Records. When you get an album like this, you can expect a little bit of classic rock, some symphonic elements and hard-hitting choruses on most, if not all of the tracks. While I can’t say that every piece on the Swiss rockers latest effort is noteworthy, there are several powerful cuts here like “Never a Guarantee,” “Reaching Out,” “To Freedom and Progress” and a couple more. Though the composition of the piece is strong, I find myself having a tough time getting into several of these cuts and that is truly unfortunate. At this stage in the game, the band are of course going to be prone to a little bit of wear and we’re certainly experiencing that on a few levels here. Most Crystal Ball fans would expect the same by now, as it comes with time – which is surprisingly what many of these songs seem to gravitate towards lyrically. The lyrical matter of the disc’s strongest cut “Never a Guarantee”actually expresses with a deep level of clarity that tomorrow is just not promised. “Time and Tide” seems to be almost an extension of that.
But then we get to some of the lesser cuts on the disc, like “Director’s Cut” which I kind of thought came off a little cheesy. About as cheesy as “Dr. Hell No” which didn’t even seem to work that well on a compositional level. “Full Disclosure” and “Fool’s Parade” both seemed to do nothing for me either. There was never that sparkling chorus moment, and they just sort of sat there. Additionally, there is not just one, but two ballads on the album that I felt hit or miss. The first one comes in as the sixth track, “Home Again” which seems to standout as a fairly decent and rather catchy ballad. It doesn’t deviate from the formula, but it doesn’t necessarily make me erupt into excitement regardless of how potent the vocal approach from Steven Mageney can be in certain sections. The second one is on the album’s closer “To Be With You Once More” which to me comes off as a rather expectable way to close a record of this nature. Despite some interesting leads around the mid-point of the piece, there’s very little that holds my attention here as well.
While I wish them the best, there are more low moments on the record than highs, which doesn’t really scream “purchase” to me. While the strong cuts are still strong, there are just so many meandering pieces on the record that just fell into background music. I never found myself singing several of these in my head, as I am normally wont to do with such albums. I can’t say that it’s a total wash, because there are a couple of exciting moments here, but you just won’t remember all of it, especially compared to other acts in the genre that I’ve already reviewed and would recommend over this one. If you’re on the fence and still want to give it a listen, I wouldn’t shy you away from that decision, but there are definitely better records out there with a similar approach.
