MONTANY - NEW BORN DAY - LIMB
With New Born Day the Dutch formation Montany has delivered a melodic metal album that is very mature. The band is influenced by the Teutonic metal giants Helloween, Gamma Ray and Edguy, but expresses itself with a distinct Montany sound. The high-pitched singer belts its out in impressive fashion, the drummer has a galloping sound and the guitarists deliver a mix of hard-hitting riffs and melodic and emotional rhythms. The impressive execution is perhaps not so surprising seeing that the band was formed in the late 80's. In fact, Montany makes a case for bands remaining in the unsigned realm for prolonged periods and for labels letting bands mature longer in the underground. The vocalist's accent is occasionally audible and the background keyboards cheat the listener, but songs like Back From The Sky, New Born Day, Here In The Light and the more subdued World Of Dreams (The Evermore) impress after repeated listens. Kudos also goes to producer Uwe Lulis for a bright and appropriate sound which, nevertheless, skews that standard 'Limb formula' most fans have come to memorize.
Montany has undergone a couple of line-up changes including the turfing of singer Patrick van Maurik. In the meanwhile, New Born Day is an above average album for melodic metal fans' collections. - Ali "The Metallian"