WALTARI: Global Rock (FUSION METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Waltari's fourteenth album was released on March 20, 2020, so much so that this information went completely unnoticed in the face of the political and health events that the world experienced at that time. In these times of post-traumatic euphoria, its discovery has a special flavour. Metal fusion, which the Finns have been refining for more than twenty years, has this exotic side that makes listening to each album interesting.

It's through unifying refrains and generous melodies that the seduction operates at first. Take 'The Way' and its heady 'Hey Hey Hey Hey' that clash in the middle of a magma thrash or the 'Who Oh Oh Oh' of the improbable 'Going Up The Country' from American hippie culture. There are even more obvious pop evidences in the sweet 'Sick'n'Tired' and 'Had It All', the nu metal 'Postrock' and 'Skyline', or 'Metal Soul' and its exhilarating 6:33 side. At least at the beginning of the record the listener has the incredible feeling of finally mastering a Waltari work.

But this concession to a form of alignment with more commercial standards is highly deceptive. More than ever it is useless to dissect in detail all Waltari's pieces. True to their adventurous side, the band continues to visit the styles, from the solar electro rap 'Skyline' to the blackening thrash to the heavy atmosphere of 'No Sacrifice' and the 80's nostalgia with keyboards and folk guitar of 'Sick'n'Tired'. And when it comes to cover versions, the Finns choose the indus' to give a very personal version in 'Boots' of Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Are Made For Walkin'.

Waltari plays with the listener as the record unfolds and has fun blurring all his intuitions. The assemblages become more and more elusive and the fusions masterfully daring. How can you not be caught when the banjo flirts with the voivodian techno-thrash in 'Orleans' or when the final version sees a succession of progressive metal that you could swear came out of Romeo's head ('And The'), a catchy indie rock ('Sand Witch') and a sweet power ballad ('Beloved').

"Global Rock" doesn't lie about the merchandise, it's a real digest of modernised rock that's on offer. Waltari gives birth to a once again teeming work that shakes up the calibrated schemes and promises discoveries with each listening. Waltari remains one of the three bands to know absolutely for those who love completely crazy metal fusion. - Official website

WALTARI

GLOBAL ROCK

METALVILLE

FUSION METAL