Graveshadow - Ambition's Price (2018)^{Release ID: 23114}

Billed as Symphonic Metal, Graveshadow are more of a quandary than the simple tag applied to them may suggest.  Ambition’s Price is their second full-length and contains a mixture of traditional and power metal sounds with an (unnecessary) amount of melodic death metal applied also.  The symphonic element is by no means lost in all the variety on display but definitely feels like it is more subtly applied, and this is by no means a criticism.  The approach to the delivery and application of the symphonic elements allows the more powerful tools in use to shine and create some enjoyable moments.

The obvious star of the show here is Heather Michelle Smith’s vocal performance.  On the clean tracks and passages they are melodic and tuneful without relying on operatics to drive their power.  Whilst the lyrics do occasionally seem to be cumbersome for her to deliver she manages in the main to deliver an accomplished performance.  This is let down only by her forays into a more melodic death style growl and harsh vocal delivery that I feel showcases neither her talents as a vocalist nor the band’s style in general.  These harsher vocals don’t arrive at points in tracks that signal some change in direction of a song and as such just feel unnecessary without being forced, but if there’s nothing wrong with the clean vocals, why change them at any point?

Some of the better tracks like The Gate and Return to Me cope well enough with majority clean vocals and these tracks in particular feel like really cohesive songs written by a band all on the same page and heading in the same direction.  For the majority of the album though things feel confused and whilst this never strays to any sense of them being directionless it does impair my enjoyment of the album overall.  

As the album goes on it does feel like it gets better but the trio of tracks that I presume tells some tale towards the end of the album probably would have worked better as two tracks for me.  The other consistent element to the album is the guitar work of Aaron Robitsch.  Whilst he doesn’t go over the top with his leads I feel they are good enough to be given perhaps a little more space on some tracks to take some focus away from just the power of the vocals.  Supported by a solid rhythm section most tracks motor along well enough but they need a few more solos to get out of third or fourth gear sometimes.

In summary, although the content doesn’t live up to the promise of the artwork there’s still a lot of potential here for an artist still finding their feet.  I believe they no longer have Heather in the ranks so those may be challenging boots to fill but I will ensure I give an ear to their next release and see whether things feel more settled on the style and direction of the band.