Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Not even music can be serious all the time, why would it want to be? Everything needs a lighter side and music is ripe to have the light shone that little deeper than most. Cinema and theatre may rule the roost when it comes to placing a smile on people’s faces but music also has the unerring ability in which to have great music with a quirky edge and absurdly good narrative attached to it; it might not be what you are expecting but it works.
Such is the case with Metal Castle’s The Battle for Metal Island as Tolkien meets Bad News, C.S. Lewis meets Picasso, the listener is introduced to something other than songs in the metal vein that plunge the depths of humanity or speak of tales of woe or even of meeting the woman of your dreams and have them pretend for the cameras to be evocative on a car, this is music forged in heat and played with a grin on the faces of all concerned.
The Battle for Metal Island is the tale of Lord Malcolm’s attempt to stave of repeated attacks by his arch nemesis and with more segues than a Lewis Carroll yarn, the listener is treated to a story that will be impossible to forget and accompanied by some damn good musicianship. It may seem wrong to enjoy the album, it has the same effect as if you were to come across an Elephant with two giant wings on its majestic body who was confused to its purpose in life but was waiting for you to teach it how to use those appendages and be able to drop its business on Ivory poachers and your most hated enemy as it swigs lemonade from a Kermit the Frog beaker, some things are just meant to be seen.
With some great titles thrown into the mix, such as Garden Grahams, Napoleonic Time Meth Addict, My Life is Better (With this Beard and Fine Wine) and Welcome To the Breakfast of Evil, Metal Castle is a great diversion on life’s pursuit for the ultimate album. It’s not going to ever be best album of the year in anybody’s book but you have to admire the daring, the fortitude in which the band have made this recording, it’s one that will never leave you.
Ian D. Hall