Crusader- Skinclad

Artist: Crusader
Album: Skinclad
Label: Shiver Records

This is my first time listening to the Belgium band Crusader, and this album did not make a good impression on me. I've read about some of their older albums being great, and it made me really want to give this band a listen. After listening to "Skinclad" however, I was fairly disappointed in the band. It seems that the band has undergone some lineup changes and added a position to the band over the past few years and I think that is the problem. David Walgrave returned after a couple year leave to take control of the mic again. Walgrave's vocals are decent and typical for power metal. Filip Lasseel left the mic duties up to David and returned to his original position on guitar. The guitar playing from the duo of Filip and new member Toshiyuki Nagatani isn't bad, and they trade some halfway decent solo's on the album. Newcomer Nick Van Vlaenderen does a pretty good job on drums and Mark Theunssen's bass playing is up to par as well. As far as the music coming from the guitars, bass, drums and vocals goes, this isn't that bad of an album. The problem lies in the addition of Wim Rotthier on keyboards. The keyboard playing on this album is just plain terrible and cheesy sounding. These guy's either have to do away with the keyboard, find a new player or get Wim some lessons because his playing really keeps this album from being anything other than just plain bad.