Harpazo: The Crucible | A Night at the Metal Opera
(2024 – Rockshots Records)
Rock, and metal to a certain extent, is full of stories told through music, as evidenced by the huge number of concept albums (i.e., albums that revolve around a single story or theme). What is more difficult is when that album is also a kind of theatrical or cinematic work, represented throughout an entire album, and, most importantly, tells a reasonably interesting story. That’s what Harpazo is all about. It’s not a band in the classic sense of the word, but rather a project by Marc Centanni and producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Gary Wehrkamp, who is responsible for the Shadow Gallery and Ayreon projects.
With such a background, nothing could go wrong, and believe me, “The Crucible” might seem unremarkable at first, but as you delve into the story developed on the album, you notice something different and interesting from what you are used to.
Musically speaking, Harpazo is a kind of progressive rock or metal, with a moderately operatic or pompous intention, so to speak. The instrumentation, in any case, is rather classical (guitars, bass, percussion, keyboards, and synthesizers), to which we must add great studio work, with multiple sound effects that make this project truly pretentious. In any case, the composition, idea, and general concept presented by “The Crucible” is like a line where each song creates different moods as the story unfolds. The difficult thing in this type of project is to articulate a story between songs, maintaining a logic that in many cases falls flat, although this is not the case here. The main achievement of this album is precisely to maintain an idea and concept as a unit. Then, each song is a different part of the script, and its different moods and atmospheres created musically acclimatize what happens in the story.
In relation to the narrative told in “The Crucible,” it is a story centered on Jude Solomon, an enigmatic CEO of Ichor, an advanced corporation that aims to introduce an innovative serum to seamlessly merge humanity with machines. As each song progresses, the whole story unfolds in a mixture of dystopian and spiritual elements. An introduction in the album’s inner sleeve serves to introduce us to this novel, which we don’t want to spoil in any way.
It should be noted that although there is dialogue in the lyrics of each track, it is not actually dialogue but is mostly vocalized, which is a great success. I have had to listen to every piece of crap, instead of music, that is dialogue with background music (remember Queen’s “Flash Gordon”?). Thankfully, the geniuses behind Harpazo have chosen to transform dialogues into musical pieces, and in a very good way. “Ichor,” the first track, which serves as an introduction to the story, has an ’80s rock flavor that makes it interesting, as does “Ultimatum,” which follows the same line, while other parts of the album, such as “I Am God” or fragments of “Change Of Heart Pt. 1” and “The Crucible,” lean more toward classic metal. In any case, what abounds in “The Crucible” is the cross between different genres, including pompous and theatrical pieces such as “Golden Crown” (where we can hear a few words in Spanish) and “Two Witnesses,” with a more melodic power metal feel. The album ends with the hopeful “Book Of Life,” which leaves us wondering whether or not there will be a second part to this story.
Marc Centanni and Gary Wehrkamp are not alone in this project called Harpazo. A dream team of talented musicians and vocalists have participated in “The Crucible,” including Dc Cooper, Rey Parra (Sacred Warrior), Christian Liljegren (Narnia), Les Carlsen (Bloodgood), Michael Drive (Barren Cross and currently Human Code), Bruno Sa (Operation: Mindcrime), Mark Zonder (Warlord, among others), among other great artists. It is truly a luxury to have such high-caliber musicians on board, which is an added bonus that elevates the quality of the album to truly excellent levels. The curious thing is that each of them takes on a character from the story and interprets it as such. In any case, it is truly genius.
I reckon that listening to “The Crucible” on digital platforms, as individual tracks, doesn’t make much sense. The idea is to listen to it in its entirety, from beginning to end, so to really enjoy it and understand the narrative surrounding Jude Solomon, the physical format is best. And what can I say about the physical edition? Not only does it have a great cover that matches the story of the album, but its inner sleeve also features different illustrations that allude to the concept of the album. Needless to say, it has excellent production, both graphically and sonically. It was recorded at New Horizon Studios and mastered by someone who knows a lot about sound, Carljohann Grimmark (better known as the guitarist for Narnia).
The idea of a “metal opera” is not new, of course, but “The Crucible” is a good attempt and a good idea, reflected in an album that can be captivating, depending on the listener’s taste. We don’t know how far this project will go, but we believe and assume that it may not end with a single album. The future will tell us how it will continue.
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