Hangar
Stronger Than Ever

Brazilians of Hangar are returning Stronger Than Ever, at least that is what they claim with their new album that is their seventh. I reviewed them many years ago, their 2007 release and I cannot really claim that I was impressed by what I heard then. But time has passed since then and they have done some albums since and according to the press sheet they are rated among the best progressive metal bands around, like Dream Theater, Symphony X and Pagan’s Mind – not that I agree with them on all those bands as some of the best but if they say so.

Power metal, progressive metal are both decent ways to describe how this album sounds but not exactly like that though. They can hardly be described as a band that reinvents the metal wheel or comes up with something fresh, at least not on this album. They do have a decent vocalist and the production is really strong, they certainly show maturity to their sound. Maybe the songs leave a little to be desired though, I don’t think they have enough variation to keep the listener interested for the entire playing time and that is despite the fact that they end the album with an acoustic version of track nine, so you end it with the same track twice.

I think that this is a pretty good album, but I also think that it is an album that will be fast forgotten. A new album needs to be either original or fantastic to get noticed and I don’t think that this album fits either of those categories. It works okay, the songs are okay but they don’t really make anything that stands out and I wouldn’t say that they even remotely ranks amongst the top progressive metal bands. By the production you can hear that they are experience but it is something of a shame that they haven’t used that experience to find a stronger song package. The album is not bad but it doesn’t really impress me either, but you will probably not be disappointed if you accidentally buy the album.

The ten songs are okay but none of them stand out, they work but not that much more. I think that Hangar’s new album will drown in the mainstream of many other very similar albums in this genre, kind of like their previous album that I only remember because of the band name. Yeah, I think that this is a pretty decent album but hardly one that will be remembered and if they really are stronger than ever there is really no point checking them out.

HHHHHHH