Van Canto - Dawn of the Brave 2014

The whole concept of singing power metal without electric guitars (sort of..) already known to Van Canto long time ago. Indeed, four albums had been released and today is their fifth album on the shelve, Dawn of the Brave. Yes, the A Cappella metal is back. In this album, the original works , special written for a cappela power is increase in number. Which is excellent. The choices of cover-version track is also interesting, we got The Final Countdown, which is very a cappella in nature, Van Canto did their job well and the rendition is very entertaining.

But first, you should view the video of Badaboom. Which I think their most interesting composition and represent their basic ideas of a cappella "musicians lost their instrument" thing, pretty fun because we got a cameos by Ozzy and Metallica. The other original works are mostly simply in power metal genre such as Fight For Your Life and To The Mountains. As a vocals group, their voices are excellent. I also love the female lead singing. If the song really put into proper power metal bands this will also sounds great. On the lighter works is Steel Breaker, a song in glam metal mood! The Awakening is of Rhapsody of Fire symphonic metal type. Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero sounds fantastic considered this is an Euro pop beat song in original. Selection of Lord Of The Rings OST Into The West didn't click much except for those who familiar with the song. Then of course Paranoid is saving the day, gotta love the vocalize classic riffs.

The nice thing is the band them self as fun project, they insert cameos and cover version still existed in their Digibook edition. As we know, only drummer in their main formation. Bastian Emig, the drummer is doing big thing, making most of the song in 'standard' power metal, we rarely feel the lost of bass and electric guitars. This also mean we need to praise the recording quality and the mixing. Dawn of the Brave is another masterpiece of rakkatakkata metal! Enjoy.

Metal Harem class: ********* eight stars out of ten

Van Canto - Dawn of the Brave 2014
Buy it here - Amazon

01. Dawn Of The Brave
02. Fight For Your Life
03. To The Mountains
04. Badaboom
05. The Final Countdown [Europe cover]
06. Steel Breaker
07. The Awakening
08. The Other Ones
09. Holding Out For A Hero [Bonnie Tyler cover]
10. Unholy
11. My Utopia
12. Into The West [Lord Of The Rings Soundtrack]
13. Paranoid [Black Sabbath cover]

Digibook Edition:
01. If I Die In Battle [orchestral version]
02. My Voice [orchestral version]
03. Take To The Sky [orchestral version]
04. Neuer Wind [Jovian Spin remix]
05. Lost Forever [acoustic version]
06. Last Night of the Kings [choir version]

Van Canto:
Dennis Schunke (Sly) – lead vocals
Inga Scharf – lead vocals (effects)
Stefan Schmidt – lower rakkatakka vocals, wahwah solo guitar vocals (rhythm, lead on solos)
Ross Thompson – higher rakkatakka vocals (lead)
Ingo Sterzinger (Ike) – lowest dandan vocals (bass)
Bastian Emig – drums

Guest musicians
Choir
Jovian Spin - Remix (track 4 on disc 2 of the Limited Mediabook)

Van Canto Dawn of the Brave review