Album Review: Legend of the Broken Claw

I was not too sure what to expect from PolarisRadio, which is the pseudonym for Dean Moroney, but I am pretty sure this wasn’t it! Dean’s music is normally described as Synthwave, and in some respects that still fits as here we have an instrumental album which appears to be based on a video game, yet while there are some tracks (such as Sea of Stars) which are solidly sat within that genre, there are plenty of others which do not. If ever there was an album which was fusing together Synthwave with Rammstein and prog metal, then this must be it. It is done so well that everything flows together, and it is only as the music swirls and changes that one realises that it is moving from one genre to another as it is done so very well indeed.

There are no boundaries here, no limits, so we have plenty of riffing guitar combining with dance and dated synths, yet at times it is also incredibly Teutonic and while there are plenty of elements in here reminiscent of Written By Wolves one can also hear elements of the likes of Threshold and Galahad, especially the latter’s dance spinoff Galahad Electric Company. There is a vitality and power which is often missing from one-man acts – this is not something which is laid back and gentle but rather it is something which could be cranked out on dance floors and would also not sound out of place in rock stadia, such is its cross-genre appeal. There is real bite here as Dean does not meander around but instead goes for the jugular ensuring that when played at the correct volume this shakes the speakers and everything around it.

Listening to the introduction of Poisoned Chalice with the creaking rigging and then the dynamic repeated keyboard melody one could easily imagine this morphing into a prog metal blaster, and while he somehow manages to keep it restrained there is no doubt there is brutality just waiting to break through. This is an album which will appeal to the open-minded fans of different genres, although there may be some who listen to prog metal who will say this is too dance-driven while those into dance may say there are too many guitars, but for those of us who listen to good music no matter the genre then this is a delight throughout. Here we have an artist going where the music leads him, and is all the better for that. Incredibly powerful, this is something else…