release date: February 26th
recordlabel: Napalm Records

Van Canto, a band that suddenly stormed the stages with their first album called : ‘A Storm to to come’. Has released its third album called ‘Tribe of Force’. I myself always liked the concept of Van Canto being a a cappella band only supported by a drummer. Even though I like the idea of Van Canto I never really listened to this band. So I went in fresh with trying to review this cd.
As the first notes start hitting my ear drums I find myself in a vocal dominated heavy metal sound. The cd starts of with the song ‘Lost Forever’. The back ground sounds are mainly created by low vocals by Ike and the drums of Bastian. The lead vocals are done by Inga a classical female singer and either Sly or Stef create the main male vocals. The sound of the band reminds me of bands like Avantasia or Sonata Arctica. After 3 minutes in the song I believe the concept of the band is already at stake as I definitely hear a guitar solo or a different electric instrument over a voice. After ‘Lost Forever’ the next song is ‘To Sing a Metal Song’. They could not have stated a more obvious thing as it is a metal song that is sung. In the end this song is less catchy than ‘Lost Forever’ and cant hold my attention for long. This stays the same for ‘One to Ten’. This song starts yet again with a guitar piece letting me again down on the concept. The fourth song is a bit more catchy and is called ‘I am Human’. The fifth song is ‘My Voice’ and starts a bit more edgy and fierce and harsher with a bit of rakkatakka from Ross or Stef in it. After two minutes the song has a total break down and starts with only vocals again. This kinda takes the edge of the song but it does make the song more epic as it of course picks up speed as it goes. The sixth song is ‘Rebellion’ and is a driving song with lower harsher edgy vocals. This song is my favourite song in this album. After ‘Rebellion’, ‘Last Night of The Kings’ follows. This song is totally a capella and rocks because of it. It also gives a break of drums on this albums which suits the album. The song reminds me in parts of ‘Bard’s Song’ of Blind Guardian. After this song the drums are in the tracks again starting with the eight song ‘Tribe of Force’. It is the same stuff as before ‘Last Night of The Kings’ being nice songs to hear but less memorable. It is followed by ‘WaterFireHeavenEarth’ which is also not really memorable. The tenth song is a keeper though being a cover of Metallica namely ‘Master of Puppets’. They really capture the essence of Metallica in this song and it makes for a different and likeable ‘Master of Puppets’.
The album has three more songs called ‘Magic Taborea’, ‘Hearted’ and ‘Frodo’s Dream’. These are all not that memorable and are for me more of the same.

Conclusion
This band/album is fun to listen to as it brings a new sound in the metal scene. The album has a few really good songs and a great cover on it. A problem is the few electronic bits may it be either guitar or electronized vocals on it. This kind of brakes the concept but does make the album more diverse. I like the album and would recommend it to people who like to listen to epic heavy metal. I would give this album 80 points out of 100.

Track listing
1. Lost Forever
2. One to Ten (ft. Victor Smolski)
3. Hearted (ft. Tony Kakko)
4. I Am human
5. To Sing a Metal Song
6. Water. Fire. Heaven. Earth.
7. My Voice
8. Last Night of the Kings
9. Tribe of Force
10. Magic Taborea
11. Frodo’s Dream
12. Rebellion (Grave Digger cover ft. Chris Boltendahl)
13. Master of Puppets (Metallica cover)

Band
Inga – Lead vocals
Sly – Lead vocals
Ross – Higher rakkatakka vocals
Stef – Lead & lower rakkatakka vocals
Ike – Doom a bass vocals
Bastian – Drum and percussion

Reviewer: Roel