Traveler " Prequel to Madness"

This Canadian band has received great recognition at the end of the year when it comes to a band holding down heavy metal. "Take the Wheel" kicks off the album with an "Aces High" like energy, though the vocals do not have as much grit and guts as Bruce.  Not the most original thing I have heard, but they are good at what they are doing. The Maiden riffs as "Two Minutes to Midnight" are up next, so they might have tried to cover "Powerslave" from front to back. The vocals show a little more guts on this one. I think what is happening here is that an audience is so hungry for new music like this that they do not care how original it is. 

The first song we get that is not trying to rip off Maiden is "The Law", which is as anthemic as any power metal song you might hope for, but mainly empty calories for your ears. The first song that I feel is well-written is 'Rebels of Earth". The riff has a more Dio-like feel to it. "Heavy Hearts" is when things started to fade into background noise and I had to go back and give it another listen to wrap my head around it, this song feels rushed though the chorus works. When their signer tries to belt from his chest voice in a lower register it sounds awkward on "No Fate".

There is a more solid take on traditional metal with "Vagrants of Time".  Though the vocal phrasing could use some work, it's common for these types of singers to try to cram too many words into a verse. Dio seldom did this which is why he is so revered. Despite this being a fact the average listener might not pick up on.  The last song is more of the same, falling along the more typical power metal lines, and too happy for my tastes. I will give this album an 8, they are great at capturing this sound and can pull it off which earns then such a high score since it's not an easy genre to tackle if so more bands would be doing it. 

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