“Prisoner Of War” is the upcoming new album by Italians FLASHBACK OF ANGER, a band that manages everything by themselves from songwriting to production & distribution, and here have created a first class product in all aspects – blending melodic metal with progressive in a masterful way.
This is a concept album about war highly inspired by the sad events of our days, but what really impress are the catchy refrains and verses, brilliant rhythm section, fast guitar riffs, high tech solos, 3 octave vocal range, tenor voices and all the passion put to deliver this product. Every track perfectly works standalone, but try to listen to it all at once for a better experience.
“Prisoner Of War” is an old-school sounding progressive metal album, and one of the best in this sub-genre we heard this year.
”Prisoner of War” feels like a classic prog metal album, often reminding of the likes of Dream Theater and Seventh Wonder, with intricate arrangements an lots of melody.
Still, classic metal fans do have a fair amount to look forward to, from explosive opener “Ordinary”, to the closing trio of tracks, which all have plenty of more up tempo passages and soaring melodies. Speaking of which, Alessio Gori does a great job as a keyboardist, as usual, but this time around his vocals are where he really shines. He has a smooth, rather high pitched voice, and he especially excels on melodic, soaring choruses, though he’s also very emotive on this album, and he sounds very good even during the calm, more restrained sections, of which there are plenty.
Perhaps due to the nature of the concept, the music does feel a bit more dialed back at times, slowly building up to explosive moments instead of going all out from the start, and the band does a really good job of that.
Lyrically, the album is about the horrors of war, the excitement of serving one’s country, and the lingering trauma that comes afterward. It’s a very dark album thematically, and one which is unfortunately very much grounded in reality, with how grim the world has been looking lately.
Moving on to the songwriting, which is an area where the album excels, as each track is excellent on its own, and it all comes together naturally. As expected from a concept album, there’s a brief intro track, which has some very atmospheric, very chilling pianos and keyboards, slowly building up in intensity as it goes on, leading into the explosive opener, “Ordinary”. This track opens up with a nice mix of heavy rhythm guitars and very classic prog sounding keys, with an upbeat feel to them. The lyrics are about a young man preparing to leave his home and go to war, so it has more of an upbeat feel compared to later tracks.
Next is “Call to Arms”, a slower paced, but still fairly upbeat track, where the guitars start to take over, with some nice melodic leads to start things off, leading into a slow, atmospheric opening verse, with some chunky riffs, light keys and slow, but intense drums. Most tracks have a bridge (or even multiple bridges), which do a nice job of building up to the chorus, and this is one of them, easily transitioning into an upbeat, melodic chorus, with some fantastic melodies.
“Ready to Fight” is a slightly more keyboard driven track, with light keys lingering in the background throughout most of the track. Dark, heavy guitars lead the way through the verses, which are once again very moody and do a nice job of slowly building up towards the bridge, which is slightly speedier and more intense
“Enemy’s Eyes”, opens up with a Maiden influenced lead guitar work, accompanied by upbeat keys and lightning fast drums. The tempo soon slows down for the opening verse, which has some chunky riffs, accompanied by keys, and some rather deep, intense vocals from Gori. There’s some nice piano work, with both the instrumental and vocals being melodic.
The slowest paced and perhaps darkest track on the album is “Half Mast”, which is largely led by a very nice drum pattern, with a distinctive groove, accompanied by light guitar work and even lighter vocals,
Things start speeding up a bit with “Dreaming Home”, which opens up with a fast-paced instrumental section, and the tempo picks up during the bridge, before slowing down for a slow, melodic chorus, with some very emotive vocals from Gori.
‘Where I Belong” is one of the most complete songs on the album, alternating nicely between upbeat and slower passages, with the verses having some heavy drums and light vocals, while the bridge is explosive and speedy, and the chorus is slow but very beautiful with some fantastic vocal melodies
Closing out the album is “Neverending Thoughts”, which starts off with more heavy guitar work and explosive drums, leading into a fast-paced, heavy opening verse, with epic keys adding extra flavor. The back half of the track has a sequence of voice samples, taken from different movies.
Rich in great classic prog-infused musicianship, plenty of fantastic choruses, and some traces of speedy, melodic power metal, FLASHBACK OF ANGER’s “Prisoner Of War” results a compelling listening.
Prog metal fans looking for a really well done concept album, would definitely be well advised to give “Prisoner Of War” a shot. It’s melodic, perfectly executed and finely produced.
Highly Recommended
Tracklist:
01. Introspection (01:28)
02. Ordinary (04:56)
03. Call To Arms (05:22)
04. Ready To Fight (06:38)
05. Enemy's Eyes (06:27)
06. Half Mast (06:45)
07. Dreaming Home (05:48)
08. Where I Belong (05:27)
09. Neverending Thoughts (06:00)
Flashback Of Anger – Prisoner of War (2024)
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