Astral Doors – Testament of Rock: The Best of Astral Doors
Release Date: 01/25/2011
Highlights: Cloudbreaker, Power & The Glory, Lionheart, Bride of Christ
Astral Doors is a German metal band that was formed Swedish guitarist Joachim Nordlund and drummer Johan Lindstedt in 2002. The two of them set out to create music inspired by Rainbow, Dio, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. To complete their vision and make it a reality they drafted vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson. Seven years and seven albums later, Astral Doors released “Testament of Rock: The Best of Astral Doors” as a way to give fans new and old a crash course on just what they were about.
The awesome thing about Astral Doors is that they are a supremely talented band. The bad thing is that they sound way too much like the above listed influences to be taken seriously.Instead of trying to bend and mold their influences into something of their own, they literally cop not just the playing style but the writing style of Dio. Johnasson sounds so much like Dio that it’s eerie but trust me, there’s worse singers he could be a clone of. I’d much rather be a clone of Dio than a clone of that douche bag from Nickelback any day.
The album’s opening track “Cloudbreaker” literally gave me goosebumps because it sounded so much like Ronnie James Dio. Songs like “Time To Rock” and “Slay The Dragon” could have been lost Dio songs but the album does have some really great stand out songs. “Lionheart” just scream Dio era Black Sabbath (think Children of the Sea) and “Bride of Christ” is the closest the band comes to actually throwing all of their influences into a blender and mixing it up.
So while this album and band as whole is basically a bizarro “Dio era Sabbath/Rainbow” I won’t say that this collection of songs sucks. Matter of fact, it’s far from it. If Astral Doors set out to make an impression on people as their own band, I think they will have a hard time doing so. If they set out to do this band as a tribute of sorts to the greatness that was and still is Dio, then they succeeded greatly. Some might even say something like, “If I wanted to listen to Dio, I’d listen to Dio.” Well, this is true but I think that Astral Doors’ songs are well written, well produced and excellently performed creating a completely enjoyable listening experience. As I’ve said before, in a time where a lot of modern metal bands seem to have lost their way or their roots to the masters, a band like Astral Doors just proves to me that those roots are not gone and forgotten forever.
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