KILMARA
“Journey To The Sun
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Kilmara are a heavy metal band from Spain formed in 2003, releasing five albums to date – ‘Haunting Dreams’ (2007), ‘Don’t Fear The Wolf’ (2010), ‘Love Songs And Other Nightmares’ (2014), ‘Across The Realm Of Time’ (2018), and ‘Journey To The Sun’ (2025).

And with their new (and fifth) album, the Spanish metallers continue their shifting musical landscape, with power metal very much on the bands radar now, Kilmara becoming a more melodic heavy/power metal outfit than (just) a heavy metal one! ‘Journey To The Sun’ is ten songs and forty six minutes of foot to the floor melodic power come traditional heavy metal that transcends boundaries and breaks down barriers between genres – the one and a half minute instrumental ‘Point Of No Return’ setting one hell of an anticipative aura as the album explodes into life with the (albums) title song ‘Journey To The Sun’. And a heaviness much heavier than I remember from the band – but then again that was over six years ago and a lot can change in that time! And a lot has – Kilmara have grown and matured yet not lost any of their incredible melodious intent, ‘Journey To The Sun’ (the song) a cracking example of the classic melodic heavy metal sound.

And with an upturn in power and pace, ‘Alliance Of The Free’ pounds the ground hard as it accelerates forth with a tonne of get up and go, the band displaying an immense energy level as ‘Alliance Of The Free’ vigorously rocks listener’s heads back and forth – the chorus break a highly sing a long-able affair that every concert goer is gonna join in with. So please Kilmara – play this one live! ‘Chances’ brings a more elegant nature to the album, the band progressing to foot stomp forward with incredible force, Kilmara pressing the pedal firmly to the metal after fifty seconds to resume the blistering pace heard earlier – ‘Chances’ turning into one of those genre hopping songs that brings together everything good about heavy metal and hard rock into just one bombastic barrage! A barrage that’s far from over, Kilmara increasing the pace to a glorious gallop as ‘Liberticide’ lurches forth with a phenomenal amount of energy – much more energy than is needed to power the city of Barcelona for an entire year! There’s also a happy, feel good nature oozing out of every song heard so far, the five piece metal band injecting a tonne of enjoyment into everything on offer – enjoyment that’s defying every law of physics, biology and genetics to move from ‘Journey To The Sun’ (the album) into the mind, heart and soul of every listener, fan and follower!

And there’s just no stopping the band when they’re in this mood either, the album raging on with the thunder, fire and brimstone fuelled ‘Wildfire’ – Kilmara upping the intensity level to new and uncharted heights! The pace and power here is supersonic, the head banging of everyone turning strenuous as ‘Wildfire’ blazes on by faster than everything heard up to this point! ‘Journey To The Sun’ (the album) is just getting better and better, and as we pass the half way mark the band don’t relent one iota the unforgiving, unabashed and unadulterated heavy metal onslaught, ‘An Even Whole’ striding on with just as much energy and drive as when the album began! I haven’t a clue what the band have been feeding on in the six years since their last album, but boy it’s done them the world of good, Kilmara a much more powerful unit now than ever before – ‘An Even Whole’ incidentally, doubling in pace and power after half way!

The intensity of the album is mind blowing, the band holding attentions very tightly with no intention of letting ’em go just yet as there’s still three more songs to come – the first of which ‘Power Of The Mind’, returns mid tempo mid paced melodic heavy metal to the fore, Kilmara marching majestically straight through the heart of metal territory, shuddering the ground with every step they take! The shudders are gonna spread all around the world, even here in the UK where I am I can feel the ground shuddering just a little bit – and I’m over seven hundred miles away! ‘Take Me Back’ is a little meaner and menacing than everything else on offer, the band maintaining the albums intense power driven metal assault at an incredible level, Kilmara not slowing down for anyone or anything! And just as I say that, the band do slow down for the albums finale, an alternative version of the title song entitled ‘Journey To The Sun (8bit)’ – an electronic inspired instrumental version that still manages to retain much of the feel good factor of the entire album.

Overall, pace, power and purpose exemplified by a band on fucking fire, ‘Journey To The Sun’ is a red hot array of pulsating feel good melodic heavy metal.

TRACKLIST

Point of No Return
Journey To The Sun
Alliance Of The Free
Chances
Liberticide
Wildfire
An Even Whole
Power of the Mind
Take Me Back
Journey To The Sun (8bit)

http://www.kilmara.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kilmaraofficial/

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