  
Napalm Records/Sound Pollution
A capella metalists VAN CANTO are releasing album no. 3. Forget everything but drums and vocals, because this is all about one drummer and no less than five vocalists. Two lead vocalists, one male, one female, and the other three are imitating the ordinary metal sounds such as bass, guitar (solos) and keyboards. The first I heard of this lot was covers, as was mostly the case with album no 2, “Hero”. Now they try their luck with 13 new tracks, of which only two are covers. Is that the best formula for them?
“Lost Forever” opens neat and Teutonic. At times it is hard to believe that so much of the music is vocals. They head for less polka inclined territories with “To Sing a Metal Song”, I wonder if there is a pun intended. The female voice is let loose in “One to Ten”, and so far they vary their German metal. The bass line is remarkably “real”. They come across as cozy in the straight metal track “I Am Human”. Sometimes the shortages of omitting so many standard instruments are very evident. The opening “riff” of “My Voice” is more artificial than a drum machine. Next up is GRAVE DIGGER`S “Rebellion”, together with master screamer Chris Boltendahl himself! It is really amusing, a fresh take on a classic hit. The same happens when they turn to “Master of Puppets”, perhaps they are best off doing covers. But the soft “Last Night of the Kings” folky tendencies suit VAN CANTO perfectly. The title track is also neat, and suitably un-German. German power metal is probably best if they steer clear of. They boost fantastic vocal abilities to vary themselves with. During closing track “Frodo´s Dream” I try to summarize; Fantastic voices, lack of real instruments, German waltz metal meets their own unique fantasy inspired style. This is a hard one to judge, in the end the metal fans must decide. Is there room for a capella metal?
Track List
Lost Forever
To Sing a Metal Song
One to Ten
I Am Human
My Voice
Rebellion (GRAVE DIGGER cover/w Chris Boltendahl)
Last Night of the Kings
Tribe of Force
Water.Fire.Heaven.Earth
Master of Puppets (METALLICA cover)
Magic Taborea
Hearted
Frodo´s Dream
www.napalmrecords.de www.vancanto.de
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