One of the handful of Venezuelan bands whose work I enjoyed before starting my research into Venezuelan Metal Season is Landsemk. Their blend of traditional heavy metal, pronounced melodic touches that owe as much to eighties hard rock as they do to power metal, and subtle progressive leanings is catchy, memorable and highly effective, but never predictable. But while all three full-length albums Landsemk has released so far are worth hearing, ‘Vence Tus Miedos’ is easily my favorite. All the elements that make Landsemk a great band are in perfect balance here, creating a supremely pleasant listening experience.

‘Vence Tus Miedos ‘is the only Landsemk album that was recorded with a keyboard player in the line-up, and it shows. Former keyboard player Alejandro Vargas did contribute to the songwriting here and there, but ‘Vence Tus Miedos’ is very much a guitar-based album. Guitarist Marcial Meléndez debuts here, and he makes his presence known immediately by contributing great riffs, excellent solos and cool melodies, all with a delightfully crunchy tone. Singer Herdys Fernández is another revelation. The way he effortlessly moves through his fairly large range – with a subtle, but very pleasant rough edge – truly enhances the songs.

What impresses me most about ‘Vence Tus Miedos’ is just how varied the album is. Albums in this style tend to have three different styles of songs: uptempo blazers, mid-tempo fist-pumpers, and ballads. On ‘Vence Tus Miedos’, however, no two songs sound alike. There isn’t even a full-on ballad here, though the way the emotionally intense ‘Lágrimas en la Oscuridad’ keeps building is borderline. Fernández delivers the vocal performance of a lifetime on the song as well. The rest of the album serves as fantastic evidence just how stylistically diverse the grey area between hard rock and heavy metal is.

My favorite song here, the crunchy upper mid-tempo ‘No Tema por Ti’, is a perfect illustration of this. Is it relatively heavy hard rock or very melodic heavy metal? As long as it consists of a few strong riffs and amazing melodies, it doesn’t matter. The triplet rhythms, subtle tempo changes and guitar harmonies give the title track an early Iron Maiden vibe, the mildly proggy ‘Derrotados’ explores a more aggressive side of the Landsemk sound, and ‘Espíritu Rebelde’ is a fantastic muscular rocker. The pulsating ‘Colapso en la Realidad’ isn’t the most typical track to open the album with, but it does kick it into high gear immediately.

Ultimately, my only issue with ‘Vence Tus Miedos’ is that at just barely 41 minutes, it’s quite short. And that includes the two bonus tracks, of which ‘Sin Descanso’ is one of the better Landsemk songs to date, but even the somewhat cheesy AOR song ‘Rock en Mí’ is quite good. Honestly, ‘Vence Tus Miedos’ is so good that I could have used more of it. Whether it’s classic heavy metal, catchy power metal or melodic hard rock that you like, you will definitely find something of your liking on Landsemk’s sophomore full-length album, and you will find all the elements bringing out the best in each other.

Recommended tracks: ‘No Tema por Ti’, ‘Lágrimas en la Oscuridad’, ‘Derrotados’