Though immensely popular in Europe, Power Metal is a niche subgenre in the United States. Niche or not, heavy metal true bloods are going to play the music they love and one such band is Eternal Voyager out of Minneapolis.
After fifteen years of turbulence and perseverance, Eternal Voyager’s debut album “The Battle of Eternity” is finally available to metal fans the world over. Band leader, lyrical mastermind, and guitarist Brian Blake explains why the band took so long to release their debut.
“I just had to find the right guys. I never wanted to be one of those guys who goes and jumps in someone else’s band or play in a cover band. I have my own vision and that’s the most important part about having a band,” says Blake, and that vision is the concept behind the debut album; a story of a time-travelling warrior who comes to our world to restore the balance of order by forming an army forged with ideals of honor and glory.
Power metal to its core, the album’s sound and lyrics are a stark contrast to the death metal growls and chugging guitars Americans so commonly associate with heavy metal as a whole. Instead, “The Battle of Eternity” features the piercing high vocals, epic storytelling, and fast, melodic guitars of European power metal coupled with the low groans and aggressive rhythm section of American thrash and death metal. Together, these two very different styles form what Blake refers to as “Voyager Metal,” for like their main influence, Iced Earth, Voyager constantly blurs the lines of genre creating sound that can’t be pinned down to one frivolous classification.
While some who are more accustomed to themes of death, Satan, and modern warfare in the lyrics of heavy metal bands, one might be a bit surprised by Eternal Voyager. Deeply rooted in the high fantasy themes of their European inspirations, Voyager’s lyrical content walks the line between what some would call inspiring and others might call tired and cliché. Brian Blake has heard both sides of that argument many times and has a strong opinion about his band’s lyrics and their meaning.
“If people call it cliché they don’t know power metal. I think that people have learned over the last few years that it’s not all about swords, dragons, and sorcery. Read the lyrics. They’re all metaphorical. They’re all representational of something bigger. Like the Beast is tyranny standing against mankind,” says Blake in regards to his lyrics. “It’s all also a story of me. I’ve seen so many hardships with this band but I never gave up and kept fighting. And that’s where the battle lyrics come from. Everything I’ve had to go through with this band.”
Taking inspiration from his friend and hero, Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth and Sons of Liberty, Blake set out to create an album that not only delivered his vision to the masses and rocked hard, but also paid tribute to metal worldwide. This was accomplished by featuring numerous guest musicians including ex-Metal Witch vocalist, Josh Rosamond, and Bob Katsionis, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist of the famed Greek power metal act ‘Firewind.’
It was through the use of guest vocalists that Voyager ultimately discovered their current lead singer, Micah Devereaux. Devereaux had provided his talents for performing high vocals on several of the album’s songs, including fan favorite, ‘This is War.’ Shortly after the recording, he was tapped to join the band to allow for Blake to step down from his front man duties and revert to backing vocals and guitars, allowing for the band to carry on the high vocals provided by guest musicians as well as expand their stage presence.
“I always fancied the idea of being free and just do backing vocals. It allows us to do the harmonies, and Micah is better at the highs than me,” says Blake. “It’s hard to find people who can not only play the stuff properly, but who are really into what we’re doing.”
With Devereaux, it would appear that Voyager has found a key component to their sound, for his mastery of the high vocal style and powerful stage presence has been turning a lot of heads in Voyager’s direction in a scene that has been regarded as cliquey and impersonal.
“Since I’m free doing the front man thing, I get the crowd involved. I get them to chant and move. Last show I jumped into the crowd and got in their faces. It’s really intimate and a lot more fun that way. It’s as much your show as it’s our show. People are just blown away by that,” says Devereaux.
“A band should come out and hit you like a ton of bricks. We like to put on a good show. It’s all about how you act and how your attitude is,” adds Blake, and the band seems to agree, for a typical Voyager show will see the band interacting with the crowd almost constantly. Whether it’s Devereaux getting up close and personal with the crowd, Blake riling up the fans before a guitar solo, or bassist, Jeff Ingelsrud chugging down a beer during a five second open chord, Voyager is quickly becoming known for their powerful stage presence.
Since the debut of the album, the band has stated that they’ve made sales across the United States and Europe with buyers coming from as far away as Russia and Finland, as well as metal-centric nations such as Norway, Germany, and Italy. In response, the band has been flooding social media with their music, artwork, and merchandise. The response has been more than expected with fans in South America loading the band into an online metal encyclopedia and uploading select tracks to YouTube and a German radio station airing their music earning them a torrent of requests for interviews from magazines and websites the world over.
“All sorts of stuff are coming out of the woodwork. We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback and it’s been overwhelmingly positive. I really want to capitalize on that,” says Devereaux, before Blake and Ingelsrud hinted that a second album is in the works and planned for a summer 2015 release.
Certainly one of the hardest working metal bands in the Midwest, the band has big plans for 2015 such as a regional tour that just might include a stop in Milwaukee.
“Milwaukee is a good city for metal. I think the people out there are really in touch with their scene,” says Blake in regards to his experiences with Milwaukee’s dedicated metal scene over the years. “The guys are definitely up for out of town tours. We just have to find the promoter.”
Ask any independent musician and you’ll likely hear that finding an outside of promoter can be a trying task, and so an Eternal Voyager show in Milwaukee might still be a ways away. In the meantime, Voyager fans have a new album to look forward to as well as a music video for ‘Calm Before the Storm,” due to begin production in December 2014.
“I don’t want to reveal too much, but it’s going to involve a lot of fire and a labyrinth,” says Blake with a wide grin. Until then Blake and his comrades say “stay tuned, stay true, and stay metal!”