The German power metal outfit, based in Heilbronn, was founded in the end of 1993. Back then they were far more progressive. The band released their debut album, 'Towers' on their own in 1996, then later re-released it under the title 'Towers of February' in 1997, on Urwerk Records. The second album, entitled 'Zero Poems', was released in 1999. In the beginning of 2000 singer and keyboarder Stefan Zoerner left the band due to personal reasons Lanfear recruited keyboarder Richy Seibel (Charisma, Ivanhoe), and new singer Tobias Althammer, whose voice gave the band a complete new sound. The third album 'The Art Effect' is an progression for the band. Double-bass oriented US power metal, with prog additions, dominates now.

TOWERS OF FEBRUARY (1997) URWERK

  1. Hate-Full-Pride

  2. Precious Time

  3. Ancient Skies

  4. She's Never Left The Day

  5. Vale Auditu - instrumental

  6. Time's Dark Laughter

  7. Caltron's Tale

  8. Unseen

  9. The Towers Of February

    1. Shore Leaves

    2. Axiom/moixA

    3. Inter Menses Februarium Et. Aprilem - instrumental

    4. Soliloquy

Line-up:

Stefan Zoerner - Vocals, Keyboards

Jürgen Schrank - Drums

Markus Ullrich - Guitars

Alexander Palma - Bass

Katja Majer - Violin

Another prog-metal band on the Urwerk label. This band is not by far as good as more famous bands, like Symphony X, Dream Theater and Queensr˙che. But they have potential, and although I don't remember much about them if I don't listen to them in a while. Still this album contains music good enough for me to keep the CD. 'Towers Of February' is Lanfear's debut album, re-released on the Urwerk label. It was originally released independently, back in 1996, then named only 'Towers'.

Killer tracks: Can't tell them apart anymore.

ZERO POEMS (1999) FAMOUS KITCHEN

  1. Zero Poems
  2. Turn The Tide
  3. Eight Silent Chambers
  4. Epilogue: June, 2054 a.d.
  5. How Come?
  6. My Karma Told Me
  7. To Sear The Flood
  8. Enlil/Genesis - A Cosmic Drama part II
  9. Naked
  10. Electric Storm, 2053 a.d.

Line-up:

Stefan Zoerner - Vocals, Keyboards

Jürgen Schrank - Drums

Markus Ullrich - Guitars

Kai Schindelar - Bass

LanFear have improved since their debut album (so much so that the record-label Massacre now have picked them up), and this album got many good reviews back when it was released. I've actually owned it for about a year prior to writing these lines. I just never really took the time to listen to it properly, until now. The music is definitely still progressive. My thought goes towards bands like Eternity X and Queen (!?!). All the songs have huge changes within themselves. Not only does the music take unusual turns every now and then, also the vocals change from melodic to hard, from whispering to shouting. It's almost hard to keep up with it all. So I guess this is what turns me a bit off on this album. I don't find myself getting deeper into any of the tracks. Then add a terrible German accent on the vocals, and you're stuck with a pretty mediocre album. All this being said, I will still recommend people to check this one out. LanFear are a unique-sounding band, and I know they have come even further, and better, on their next effort. Oh, I think this is a concept album of some sort, but I've never attempted to find out what it is all about.

Killer tracks: Eight Silent Chambers, My Karma Told Me, Enlil/Genesis

Lanfear also appear on:  

V/A - 'Metal Power - Volume 1'

 

Related artists:

Ivanhoe