CD-Review: Wisdom - "Marching For Liberty"

The Hungarian Power Metal band WISDOM released their third effort "Marching For Liberty" these days and somehow this band passed me by in the last years. The cover artwork impressed me very much this time, so now they have my attention. I was prepared for a journey through a fantasy world. Let's see if it was worth the ride.







Wisdom is a typical Melodic/Power Metal band, that means you'll get to hear fast pounding drums, tons of double layered guitars, anthemic choruses and epic choirs combined with lyrics about a dark fantasy world.

After a short intro the opener "Dust Of The Sun" starts and I was very satisfied with it. This track is Power Metal in its purest form with a catchy chorus. This song left me hungry for more, but after the following two songs some kind of disillusionment haunted me and my euphoria turned into disappointment. The songs are good, but they sound way the same. Especially the choruses are very similar to each other, so I thought I was listening to one song again and again and that doesn't changed much during the whole playtime. The tempo of the songs is a bit different, but that's it. The only song which breaks the structures is the ballad "Wake Up My Life". Wisdom add some accoustic elements to their sound on this one and that's a welcome variety.
Another highlight is the title track "March Of Liberty" with its big epic scale and great atmosphere. A very enjoable chorus and great guitar work make this one to my favorite on this album.

In general I'd like to point out the excellent guitar work on the whole record. It's always fun to listen to and very melodic. It reminds me very often at Freedom Call, while singer Gábor Nagy sounds a bit like Tobias Sammet at times. This gives some songs an Edguy/Avantasia vibe.
Speaking about the epicness and the big choirs you can easily compare Wisdom with their colleagues of Rhapsody Of Fire. You see, you've heard everything on "Marching for Liberty" a thousend times before - just better. I hardly miss some own identity. For sure, you don't have to reinvent the wheel, but a special trademark in Wisdom's sound would be great.

Soundwise I have to pull off a few points, too. The drums sound a bit too generic and don't offer much volume, while the overall production is powerful.

So in the end you get a solid Melodic/Power Metal album with some good songs and ideas. Sadly they sound a bit generic at the same time and don't offer something new or unique. Nevertheless, fans of all the bands I mentioned above can give it a listen.

7/10

Tracklist:

01. World Of The Free
02. Dust Of The Sun *
03. War Of Angels
04. Failure Of Nature
05. The Martyr *
06. God Rest Your Soul
07. Take Me To Neverland
08. Wake Up My Life *
09. My Fairytale
10. Have No Fear
11. Live Like A Beast
12. Marching For Liberty *

* best tracks

http://www.wisdom.hu