Instanzia - Ghosts (2010)

Tracklist:
01. Omen
02. Ghosts of the Past
03. Power of the Mind
04. Charming Deceiver
05. Heavenly Hell
06. A Genius Who Believes
07. The Key
08. The Desert Fox

Country: Canada
Genre: Power Metal
Label: Metalodic Records
Released: November 22:nd, 2010
Website: http://www.myspace.com/instanzia

Line-up:
Alexis Woodbury - vocals & guitars
Jean-Christophe Binette - guitars
Alexandre Paquin - bass
Francis Ducharme - drums

The year 2010 saw one of the best newcomers to the melodic power metal scene – I’m talking about Instanzia from Quebec, Canada – a band that with Ghosts managed to deliver one of the freshest sounding (however much I love this genre, that still has to be a feat) albums in many a moon. Virtually unheard of prior to this outing, this young band shows more than a hint of promise with these seven songs + intro. We’re talking power metal in the European school: Double bass, intense fretwork, subtle keyboard backdrops and highly melodic and catchy choruses. While they’re not going to win any prizes for innovation anytime soon that doesn’t really matter when the material on hand is just so damn good.

Although a bit on the short side – the album clocks in at just below 48 minutes – Instanzia still manage to keep fresh the old device ‘quality over quantity’. After the alluring intro track ”Omen” segues into the first song proper ”Ghosts of the Past” and vocalist/guitarist Alex Newbury opens his mouth, you’d be pretty correct in assuming you’re in for nary an hour’s worth of quality Euro power, with one catchy chorus giving way to another, all backed up by a solid rhythm section and a moderate use of keyboard that appears in just the right sections. Oh, and there’s also the occasional blistering guitar solo, so lovers of that will get their share of that too. While never straying from a comfortable mid-range, Newbury’s vocals still convey the power necessary to make these tunes convincing.

Pretty much everything on offer here is of a solid and even quality, but there will always be personal favorites among the songs, so of course you’ll get to know mine: Opener and the aforementioned ”Ghost of the Past” boasts a terrific chorus that you’ll be singing for days and in the shower (yup, no kidding), ”Heavenly Hell” morphs into a kind of Keldian like symphonic chorus at around 2:20 minutes. I love the Norwegian band, so that is high praise indeed. The last track and the ‘magnum opus’ is ”The Desert Fox”, which tells the story of the German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, known as, yeah, the desert fox, and his endeavors during WWII. This song is song is approximately 11 minutes and ”Heavenly Hell” is just below nine minutes, yet they never drag on, which just goes to show that these guys have the songwriting chops too.

All in all, this is a very promising debut. I really can’t find any downsides to this album, and nitpicking on a record this good would only do the band a disservice. I recommend you pick it up if you’re into mid-tempo to upbeat power metal with choruses the musical equivalent of cotton candy. It’s going to be interesting to see where these guys go from here.

(originally published on cronopio.se January 28:th, 2011)