Fullforce – One (2011)

The Swedish Powermetal Band Fullforce totally strikes the mark with their debut album “One”, just like the metor on their front cover does. Fullforce was founded in 2008 and consists of members of the bands Hammerfall, Narnia and Cloudscape.

The band lights an exhilarating firework with their eleven songs, one that you won’t find again amongst power metalers at the moment. Fullforce also caters to fans who are not totally satisfied with the new development of bands like Edguy and Hammerfall. Both of the guitars really rock it and are accompanied by drumming that never gets boring, often also with double basses, so it ups the speed. But most songs are in a more moderate tempo. The singer’s voice is a middle high pitch to high pitch voice register, but it never gets too high-pitched and so it is not too exhausting to listen to it. The only thing I don’t like too much is that the awesome melodies and the good sound quality of the guitars and the singing are sometimes overshadowed by the loud keyboard or synthesizer. This kind of ruins some parts, for example at the end of “Walls of Secrets”. All in all, there are some progressive parts that really fit in with the songs. I think “None of your Concern”, “Heart and Soul”, “Suffering in Silence” and “Into the Cradle” are really worth listening to.

The lyrics deal with human beings, feelings and loss. The song “Open you Eyes”, for example, deals with egocentric people who should open their eyes and realize that they are not the center of the universe. The song “Rain” describes the challenge to fight depression and to realize the good parts of life, and the song “Father Spirit” is about losing your father and the mourning that goes with it.

I like the futuristic-apocalyptic cover in red-orange shades, and that it is easy to distinguish from other artworks in this genre. On the cover, you can see impacts of meteorites on a planet. In the foreground there is a soldier and in the background a big planet, that could be the earth if you look closely enough.

The inside of the booklet is very well-arranged and nicely designed. On the left side there are new artworks that are in the same red-orange shades as the cover. At the beginning and at the end of the booklet there are two new photos of the band, the names of the members and their role in the band. The lyrics are on the right side and very easy to read.

On the back you can find the links to their website and their Facebook and MySpace addresses. You can’t do more, and you don’t need more.

In conclusion, I can say, it’s a CD worth buying for every fan of bands like Hammerfall. Fullforce spoil people with really good metal! The only disadvantage - that actually doesn’t really count - is the sound, that sometimes is a bit fuzzy and the running time of the CD … it could have been longer than 48 minutes. So, there’s nothing I can do but wait for the next album.

Line Up:

Mike Andersson                      All Vocals
Stefan Elmgren                        Guitar
CJ Grimmark                          Guitar
Tommy Larsson                      Bass
Anders Johansson                   Drums

Sound quality: 9/10                  variety: 9/10            
cover: 10/10                           booklet: 10/10
Total: 9,5