Things You May Have Missed: Cain’s Offering – Gather the Faithful

cainYou may, actually, have missed that Jani Liimatainen (ex-Sonata Arctica) actually has a new band! For those of us who are long time fans of Sonata Arctica, this was great news! However, the bad news was quickly assessed when I realized that Tim Kotipelto had, in fact, done the vocals on this record. So, good news and bad news. Well, I gotta say that Cain’s Offering didn’t end up being a bust, but I gotta be honest with you, I still fucking hate Timo Kotipelto’s vocals more than almost anything in the world. He just can’t quit sounding thin, irritating, annoying, whiny and.. generally crappy ALL THE TIME. His lyrics aren’t very hot either, honestly, nor is his understanding of English (though honestly it’s hard to blame him for fucking up prepositions and prepositional phrases given that Finnish has no prepositions at all and English is his second language…).

In any case, the record includes some pretty badass power metal in the vein of Stratovarius, old Sonata Arctica, and well, you know: Eurometal. There are some serious highlights on here, particularly the track with “Dawn of Solace,” which despite bad lyrics is ridiculously catchy and awesome. But there are some pretty bad tracks too: “More Than Friends” is a serious joke, it’s hardly a good song and Timo’s vocals really just give it a deathly pall. “Into the Blue” shows that power ballads are still alive, but seriously on life support and should probably have it pulled.

You a fan of old school Sonata Arctica and miss it? Well, Cain’s Offering has bested both Strat and Sonata Arctica this year as far as solid power metal releases go, but honestly it’s no Reckoning Night.

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