Jackal

Jackal was Danish trad/power metal band and had immediate European and Japanese success with the release of their first album on EMI. Unfortunately, label difficulties dogged the band after that.
Last known line-up:
Brian Rich - Vocals (Shermann Soldiers, Narita (Dnk))
Benny Petersen - Guitars (ex- Mercyful Fate, Pretty Maids, Evil (Dnk))
Brian Jшrgensen - Bass (ex-Rip and Tear)
Jens - Drums
(c) metal-archives.com
The second album of Danish JACKAL, titled "Vague Visions", hails from the year 1993. That already shows that they had been around way before HAMMERFALL and co. and even if that had not been the case, they sound a good bit different.
What the quartet is offering us here is no True Metal, has no happy melodies, no big choirs, but is earthier, without bombast, maybe with a slight IRON MAIDEN-touch. Singer Brian Rich has a pretty original high voice, with a light Dickinson-list here and there and gives JACKAL some originality, too.
Musically they covered almost the whole spectrum from balladesque to fast, but never acting in the real high-speed-terrain, another difference to most comparable bands from the new age. But still they always put big emphasis on variety, so not to fall into uniformity.
Take the opener "Vague Visions", "No Sign Of Heaven", "There By The Trees" or the great, unusual instrumental "2001" to check them out, but bear in mind that even though the album had been around at ridiculously low prices it's pretty hard to get nowadays.
No milestone of the genre, but compared to the epigones of the past years a welcome breath of fresh air within Power Metal.
(c) metal-observer.com