Rebellion
A Tragedy In Steel Part II: Shakespeare's King Lear

Years ago Shakespeare wrote some tragedies, many years later in 2002 Rebellion made a tragedy in steel based on the Shakespeare play Macbeth. Now they are making another Shakespearean story, King Lear. I like conceptual stories, when they are well made they tend to be quite amazing. Rebellion has done some good works in the past but they have probably not quite shaken their Grave Digger roots in any of their earlier works. And they do seem big on the concept album thing, so what shall we say about this new tragedy?

A Fool’s Tale starts it all up, and that is a good start, a good song. The music is heavy metal, very similar to a band like Grave Digger. Quite powerful with a rough vocalist, it is quite obvious that it is about the concept and it is split in a dozen chapters playing for a bit over an hour. It is a long tragedy. I think the album has a decent depth and variation but it feels a tad long, but the vocals are good. It is quite heavy, and I don’t really think it is an album that offers any surprises. Those who know Rebellion or know classic heavy metal will find this a very familiar sounding album.

Whatever, is actually my lasting impression of this album. It feels slow and it takes a long time play through. Perhaps eight or nine chapters instead of the twelve we are getting? It starts quite well and they have good things like good vocals, good energy and a bit of drama. But they don’t really manage to combine those good elements into a good album, and neither do they make it a great tragedy. I find myself unimpressed and I don’t really think that the album offers anything particularly memorable. The first track is good but it is all downhill from there I guess – it is not bad but rather bland.

Not the best of albums, Shakespearean dramas should be good to make metal conceptual albums but Rebellion doesn’t quite pull it off and in the end I think that this second Tragedy in Steel fails to impress. Perhaps they forgot the music when trying to put together their story in music, and forgot that the music always has to be the first and foremost. Sure it is not bad but it is not a very exciting album, and I think they have done better stuff in the past. This story about King Lear feels like a shrug of the shoulders and like at least 64 minutes wasted. Good thing it isn't tragically bad.

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