Heavy, powerful, and in your face.
German Pascual (ex-Narnia, Mind’s Eye) was born in Uruguay, raised in Brazil and then moved to Sweden in his early teens, and this is where he has resided ever since. He is the front man of the Swedish White Metal act Divinefire and here we have his first ever solo album entitled ‘A New Beginning’. Now if you like music with echoes of Narnia, Dio, Angra, and At Vance that also has a lot of progressive metal overtones, then Mr Pascual’s quite spiffing debut album will be something that could quite well tickle your fancy. The CD is full of power metal songs with prog metal sensibilities that are joined with strong melodies, killer vocals and top notch musicianship and if this sounds good to you, then ‘A New Beginning’ should be added to those Christmas prezzie lists straight away. Joining German in his endeavours are various friends he has made throughout his career including, Carl-Johan Grimmark (Narnia, Divinefire), Per Schelander (Pain Of Salvation) and Raphael Dafras (Almah); and these gentlemen have helped Mr Pascual in putting together a potent and very engaging album indeed.
The opening salvo of ‘Seek The Truth’ and ‘Wrath Of God’ immediately illustrates to the listener just what German Pascual and his cohorts are all about: which is hard hitting melodic metal, with strong prog metal hooks and big performances. ‘If The Sky Would Fall’ follows and the track intelligently uses dynamic keyboard runs to form the backbone for the song, German’s throaty roar then joins with the keys and this foundation is used by the bass, guitar and drums to build and expand upon as the theme of the song develops. ‘I Call For One’ again uses keyboards to great effect and it is the heaviest song on the album. The vocals, guitars and rhythm section work together on this track and each band member plays as if their very life depended on it. Finally I’d like to tell you about the track ‘Cancion Con Todos’ which is a totally different kind of song for this album and is apparently the unofficial anthem for the countries of South America and has been heavied up by German and the band and it rounds the album off for me in fine style.
Heavy, powerful, and in your face ’A New Beginning’ is not for the feint hearted but those of you who like to listen to music that can leave your ears ringing after it has finished playing, will I’m sure like this solo album from Mr Pascual and like me be looking forward to his further efforts with high expectation.
Ian Johnson
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