Ancara
The Dawn

July 2006
Released: 2006, DKS Music OY
Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

The Finnish fivesome Ancara has been hyped up in the Finnish soil as of late, so I sort of wanted to find out what´s this all fuss around them; basically I have somehow convinced myself have they really been worth hyping for.



The 80´s-tinged straight Hard Rock combined with a strong touch from Heavy Rock´s side is what Ancara does, and they do it with a relatively convincing style even that many of us obviously find pleasing enough for our own listening pleasures. Actually it´s not that big wonder why they sound so mature and ready as the fact goes Ancara has been formed - believe it or not, in 1985 already. Yep, that´s correct. And since THE DAWN is only their debut album, go blaming them on taking things probably ´a bit too slowly´. But don´t all good things tend to come slowly, but determinedly eventually?



This is all good stuff here, but in spite of a somewhat strong musicianship that shines through in Ancara´s ´safe´ sounding Heavy/Hard Rock, it still does not make me to jump around enthusiastically or in sheer ecstasy like a bunny that has just burnt her hairy ass in the campfire last night by accident. Y´know, listening to Ancara´s debut is like getting your most favorite hamburger without that fat, heavily grease-filled and delicious steak that makes your hamburger to taste like, (eh?), your ´very favorite hamburger´(simple!). It´s like it´s there somewhere without being there anyway; leaving your mouth wide open to taste the air around your lips, kind of hoping to reach a faint taste of that delicious piece of meat from somewhere. Got it? Thought so - me either.



The band sounds, for some reason, somehow tired and uninspired on THE DAWN. There´s actually no particular track on their debut that could stand out for its own good and get stuck to your mind indelibly - well, except a cover version from probably the most covered Billy Idol -song, "Rebel Yell", of course! Also, the title track of this album, "The Dawn", has its moments. This song sounds like something off Queenryche´s material; it´s beautiful, it´s sorrowful, it´s fine progressive and gets your attention for sure. But when there´s 8 other tunes on THE DAWN, it needs to be said these aforementioned two particular songs don´t save the record to sink into an eternal oblivion. There´s definitely some sparkingly hope-arousing talent and potential bubbling in Ancara, but it´s just a bit unfortunate thing they haven´t tried hard enough to deliver their goods the way they might possibly be capable of. In the very same breath it could be mentioned the band´s vocalist Sammy Salminen does his own share in the songs well, having a really good voice and all. He´s good, but...



Having seen this band in a live situation a couple of times, they are honestly way more entertaining and fun to watch than to listen to, so it´s sort of unfortunate to realize that badly needed live vibe hasn´t transferred into their songs. But who knows, maybe next time then... (?)