Album Review: Civil War - Invaders

This review is really for one purpose only; to judge just how much to blame Nils Patrik Johansson was for my initial distaste for this band. When they hit the scene, it was obvious they were not doing a single thing to break or defy their ties to Sabaton, but what really turned me off was good ol' Nils. His vocals on their first album were so overdone and uncomfortable, I couldn't get through the whole record without needing to put something more pleasurable on. I'm not versed enough in technique to comment on how well Nils was singing, but his tone sounded absolutely terrible to me, so I wrote him and the band off.

As we gather today, Civil War has a new singer in the person of Kelly Sundown Carpenter, another journeyman who has never impressed me, and is only notable for the peculiarity of his name. I didn't like Civil War to begin with, I don't particularly like Sundown, and I've grown incredibly frustrated with historical music that doesn't take a stand against the brutality of the subjects. This isn't going to go well, is it?

The band rushes out of the gate with chugging guitars of the most standard power metal variety, which at least gets an Eastern motif over the top to make it feel less generic. Sundown's voice is certainly better than Nils' was, eliminating the broken speaker warble that annoyed me the most. So if what I thought was the band's main problem is taken care of so early, the rest of the record should be able to tell me if there was something missing I couldn't hear through my discomfort. Right?

It's still hard to tell, honestly. "Dead Man's Glory" is the second track, and when it goes to reach for its rousing chorus, Sundown's delivery is utterly incomprehensible. I couldn't understand a single word of the chorus, which you would figure is the most important part of the song. If I can't even tell what you're singing about, the whole lyric is rendered useless. And when the band takes their historical storytelling as a point of pride, it's inexcusable for it not to come through clearly.

The band also likes to lean on melodies that focus on powerful vocals. That gives Sundown a chance to show off, but I've always felt it makes for less interesting melodies as a listener. When many of these songs hit the choruses, rather than something rousing coming on, or something with a hook to it, they feel like pushing air is what the band finds most important. So if a song like "Heart Of Darkness" has built up any good will, it gets squandered when the key to the song isn't memorable.

"Andersonville" is supposed to be the huge power ballad, but it too has a glaring flaw. The mix of the song is so hot, and Sundown's vocals are swamped at times by the rest of the band, that the emotional note they're trying to hit is impossible to hear. Everything is so loud, volume replaces passion in the vocals, and the song sounds like a less busy metal track rather than a soaring ballad. That's the one song on the album I should be most easily won over by, but they put a hurdle in front of it that was too high for them to jump over.

Civil War have improved by virtue of their lineup change, but they still aren't a band that impresses me all that much. They only have a couple of songs on this record that break free of the generic feeling power metal is awash in. If you absolutely love metal about history, you can do worse. If you want a louder Sabaton, you've got it. I'm looking for something with far more immediate songs, something that will stick with me, and this isn't it.