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Starborn is a new Power Metal band from the United Kingdom and, in the interest of transparency, is made up of three regulars from The Metal Crypt family: Bruce Turnbull (vocals), Chris Foley (guitars) and Dan Alderson (drums), along with Sean Atkinson (guitars) and Jonny Kelsey (bass). If you search through the reviews by Chris and Bruce you'll soon find that Power Metal is a favored genre (though not the only one, to be sure) so it isn't much of a surprise to hear that style blasting from your speakers when you spin the band's debut EP, Born by the Wind.

What will hit you first is the absolute wall of thunder Starborn unleash from the opening drum salvo of "Born by the Wind." This is NOT flowery Power Metal by any stretch. Heavy, crunchy guitars evoke the Germanic school along with a healthy dose of Iron Maiden while the ubiquitous double-kick drums are reminiscent of the Finnish style, though Alderson is much more brutal to his bass drums than his northern European counterparts. The vocals have a distinct US feel with their clear but gritty delivery, interspersed with a few soaring high notes. Think David DeFeis or Eric Adams. As this is the band's first go, there are some flaws. The sound is heavy on the low end, which robs the songs of a bit of the melody that's present, if you listen hard enough. The vocals are occasionally flat, though Turnbull can clearly hit the high notes, as you can hear on the scream at the end of "Call of the Brave," one of the EP's highlights. On the plus side, you can be relatively certain there were no auto-tune shenanigans. There are also a couple of rough cuts where different takes were seemingly combined to produce final mixes.

Born by the Wind is one of those cases where a new band's talent, present, to be sure, is outstripped by the energy and passion of the performances. Starborn's efforts are a bit warty and unkempt and the songwriting could be catchier, but Born by the Wind shows a lot of promise.

Additional Information

Bandcamp: starbornpower.bandcamp.com