Heavenly – Carpe Diem (2009)

Carpe Diem is not an album that I can try to convince conventional modern metal fans to listen to by arguing the album contains doses of death metal, thrash metal, etc, because Carpe Diem is out and out power metal, in the truest sense of the word. This is Helloween inspired speed metal with grandiose melodies and falsetto vocals, and if you dig that sort of thing, don’t be ashamed to check out this record, because you will surely be spinning it frequently while your metal buddies are off grimacing to the latest Revocation album. However, as with any Heavenly album, Carpe Diem is not without its moments of stinky cheese. Said moment that is borderline unbearable and completely shameless is the song “Farewell” which is just so over the top that it is actually laughable; the lyrics, the intonation of vocalist Ben Sotto who takes the traditional Euro falsetto to a whole new level that any male with a proper set of dropped balls would normally never hope to achieve, all are almost too much to bare. It almost seems like “Farewell” is purposefully over the top as a kind of tribute to Queen out of all bands.

In addition to your normal dose of Heavenly cheese though, the listener is presented with a number of tracks that blister with excellency in speed, melody and technicality. Particularly worth noting is the fantastic double bass skills of drummer “Piwee” Desfray who brings alot of color to such tracks as the self titled “Carpe Diem.” In addition, the guitar solos are certainly acceptable, but not really noteworthy for this type of music that lives and breathes guitar virtuosity. And then there’s Ben Sotto who is the man behind all these compositions as well as the patented Heavenly vocals, this is a man with a style that you can easily cast aside as just absurdly ridiculous that its ultimately not worth your time, but as with the harsh growls of death and black metal to the un-appreciative ear, Sotto is a singer who fits this music perfectly with a style that was meant to be almost showtune-ish, or even Operatic. I really keep coming back to Queen with this album because Carpe Diem is a perfect example of that spirit that embodied Mercury and company, and ultimately was what was responsible for making them legends. I won’t say that Heavenly or any of their albums are legendary, but its quite clear that you have to appreciate this music on a different level than extreme metal. I enjoyed Carpe Diem, even with all of its absurdities, though ultimately, it fails to measure up to the band’s early outings which were a bit more focused on writing bad ass riffs than creating metal showtunes.

GOOD

Similar Artists: Helloween, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, Queen

1. Carpe Diem
2. Lost In Your Eyes
3. Farewell
4. Fullmoon
5. A Better Me
6. Ashen Paradise
7. The Face Of The Truth
8. Ode To Joy
9. Save Our Souls