Avenford was formed by guitarist Peter Szehoffner and guitarist/vocalist Arpie Gamson in Hungary in the summer of 2012. They had similar backgrounds, musical ideas and influences which include Masterplan, Jorn Lande, Yngwie Malmsteen and Iron Maiden. A few months later they had enough material written and after Szehoffner and Gamson moved to the UK, they got together in Gamson’s flat and recorded the basic tracks for the debut album, ‘Mortal Price’. Moving forward to 2017 they have a new rhythm section, and a new album, which was recorded with Roland Grapow (Masterplan), and they say that it stronger, harder and faster than the first one.
Within the press release they do keep mentioning Iron Maiden as a real influence, but it doesn’t come across in the music, and neither does Yngwie Malmsteen. This is power metal with many keyboards – sure, there is some shredding and quick runs, but if I hadn’t see what they were saying then I would point out that these guys are obviously massively influenced by Stratovarius. They have also used a few guest musicians on certain songs, which says to me that they seem to be a little lacking in confidence, which I find strange as anyone into this style of music will find a lot here to enjoy. Personally, it is just a little too polished for my tastes, but there is never any doubting that they are very good at what they do. If you want metal that is powerful, yet also sanitised, melodic and shredding, but always with control, then possibly this is for you.
