If you thought bands who wrote songs based on “Lord of the Rings” and other such works of fantasy were huge nerds, wait until you get a load of Germany’s Logar´s Diary. This six-piece concept band’s songs are based on the adventures of Logar, a magician from the RPG Earthdawn. Or, as they say in their bio, “Logar wrote down his quests and found some bards (us, the band!) who wrote the music for his lyrics.” I’ve never heard of the game, but apparently these guys are big fans. That’s pretty damn nerdy. I kept waiting for a soaring vocal to proclaim “He rolled for +4 armor class!” but thankfully it never arrived. What did arrive was some surprisingly strong fantasy metal that sounds like Rhapsody stripped down and less ambitious.
When one of the first instruments you hear on a record is the bagpipes, you know you’re in for some fun (or at least when they’re accompanied by double-bass, a speed metal riff, and a high-pitched wail). There are flutes and organs in the mix, too. So, in structure, this is a pretty typical album of the genre, with track themes varying from characters to action sequences and tempos changing to fit the various moods. The quest begins with a spoken intro leading into the high-speed opener “The Restless Troll”, obviously the first encounter of Logar’s quest. From there the adventure continues with Bard-like tracks (“The Casket of the Last Resident”), a somber moment in “Cursed Soul”, the victorious closer “Under One Sky”, and of course, lots of fast-paced action littered throughout, which is the dominating force here. That’s a good thing, as constantly changing moods have a tendency to make a listening experience not only pretentious but easy to tune out of.
You’re not going to get anything new out of Logar’s Diary, but if you’re into epic fantasy storytelling metal, you’ll have a lot of fun with this one. It’s well played and well paced, with musicians who know when to reign it in and a vocalist who refrains from too much high-pitched nonsense.
