Cellador - Leaving All Behind
Self Financed
Power Metal
4 songs (23'22)
Release year: 2005
Cellador
Reviewed by Ben

This week I have the pleasure of reviewing an unsigned band’s debut release, and this I can honestly say, has been one of the most enjoyable assignments I’ve had thus far. Cellador have created quite an internet buzz recently, the promoting of this demo by the band and by word of mouth reminds of Dragonforce’s own demo five years ago. It seems that almost every message board I went to had some talk about this band. And just like the Dragonforce demo once I got my hands on this I was thoroughly impressed. Cellador play high speed Power Metal much in the vein of the aforementioned Dragonforce, but they also maintain the spirit of classic Helloween without sounding like a third rate clone. Because of the sea of generic Power Metal mediocrity that flooded the scene in the last near decade, to finally hear a band that truly and unabashedly captures the bygone sounds of classic Power Metal fills me with a girlish glee. Leaving All Behind is four songs long and each song has been meticulously crafted and given the utmost care, they are all killers in their own right. The other similarity that runs between each song is that these are all played incredibly fast. There are no mid tempo songs, no ballads, just an all out melodic assault on the senses for a hair over twenty minutes. Solos abound in every song, and as mandated by the rules of Power Metal, each chorus is a hands in the air anthem of sorts. Double harmony solos also make a few cameos and the vocals are constantly in the stratosphere, don’t expect for any baritone relief. Despite the fact that I do really enjoy every song on this demo, the last half stronger in my opinion. What sets Forever Unbound and No Chances Lost a bit higher than the rest are that they go the extra mile, they have that extra push to make them inch away from the other two songs. Forever Unbound has a melody that is so ear catchingly good that it even forced my roommate to walk by whistling it. No Chances Lost however has a bit more to it than that. Not only is the main melody strong, it has the most variety out of the rest of the numbers too. In this song and this song only, the band experiment with some, not slow, but slowER parts including a brief clean electric break during the finale chorus. Blast beats are everywhere and the instrumental sections are enormous. I swear, Chris and Sam (not Totman but just as fast) must play thousands of notes throughout the six and a half minute duration. Terrifically triumphant, I couldn’t ask for a better close to this demo.

As far as I am concerned, Cellador have half an album of killer material right here with Leaving All Behind. However, for the other half I think it would be wise to throw us at least one curveball and alleviate the all out speedfest for just a little bit. Even though Dragonforce (once you hear this you will know immediately why I keep referencing these Brits) are (in)famous for their speed, they have the token Power Ballad and the one song with the acoustic solo break on each long player. I’m not saying that Cellador should take this exact route but there is a reason why No Chances Lost stands out the way that it does.

Killing Songs :
No Chances Lost, Forever Unbound, Leaving All Behind, and Seen Through Time
Ben quoted no quote
Other albums by Cellador that we have reviewed:
Cellador - Enter Deception reviewed by Marty and quoted 82 / 100
10 readers voted
Average:
 87
You did not vote yet.
Vote now

There are 30 replies to this review. Last one on Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:41 pm
View and Post comments