FALCON, Falcon (2004, Liquid Flames)

The skull:
It’s a skull in a falcon helmet, (made to look) embossed in leather. That’s pretty awesome! The skull, however, is fairly small, and that’s not so awesome. Also, why does it look like there are stink lines coming off the falcon’s wings? I’m certainly prepared to believe that falcons are foul-smelling birds, but I don’t see why it would be necessary to artistically capture this detail in leatherwork. Also, what’s the deal with the large shadow of the helmet in the lower half of the cover? Is it supposed to look like an actual skull in an actual falcon helmet is staring at this leather, casting his shadow thereon? Maybe it’s his reflection? Ultimately, this cover raises more questions than it answers, and I am left feeling perplexed.

The music:
Falcon was formed by former Destiny’s End and Isen-Torr guitarist (and former Metal Maniacs scribe) Perry Greyson with Cirith Ungol guitarist Greg Lindstrom (playing bass here) to make old-fashioned hard rock/metal like, well, Cirith Ungol. Really early Cirith Ungol. And like Cirith Ungol, Falcon are defined primarily by horrifically bad vocals, but unlike Cirith Ungol, there’s no charm to Greyson’s tepid moaning. The music isn’t very interesting either. This sounds like the sort of band you imagine Cirith Ungol having to play shows with on the way up to the massive success they would later achieve. Every riff is a cliche, the pacing is stultifying, and that god damned singing! Basically, if you’re a mustache-and-bellbottoms heavy metal kind of guy, then maybe Falcon could be your thing. For me, this is just lazy, boring, retro junk that exists only to moisten the adult diapers of a certain kind of German. I like a lot of Greyson’s other bands, and he always seemed like a cool dude, but this band just sucks.
— Friar Johnsen