2007-09-16
Man, what a nice surprise. I saw the cover for this one and was expecting your regular, run-of-the-mill Italian power metal release, and instead got a solid melodic metal album that combines classic 70's hard rock with some neo-classical metal thrown in for good measure.
Based around the talent of Italian guitarist Marco Valerio Zangani (ex-Sacred Tiber), this may be the band's debut release, but the ability, talent and professionalism of all involved elevates this to be something special. A class act all the way, that benefits a lot from its vocals, courtesy of the ever-busy, ever-dependable DC Cooper (mostly a hired-gun in the European metal scene) whose main body of work was with Royal Hunt and Silent Force.
The album opens up with a pretty strong number. "Anger Storm" is a fine hard rock/power hybrid, with a good, not overly produced sound, solid double-bass drumming, and strong keyboard work. Cooper's vocals are on the main focal point in the track, but the riffs and guitar leads are no slouches as well. Zangani's experience is evident in the music, and unlike some guitar virtuosos, he just plays what's good for the track, and doesn’t just show-off all around the place.
One of the strongest cuts here is the neo-classical "Theatre Of Pain", which features some truly staggering vocal work by Cooper, some massive choruses accompanied by a Harpsichord sounding keyboard work, with Zangani's imaginative riffing and neo-classical work doing some really impressive bits. The fact that the lyrics in this album are also very well written is another highlight, mostly these melodic metal albums have lyrics that are ignored, and should be ignored, but here they're well written and flow well with the vocals.
I have to say this was a serious surprise for me, the name of the band and cover artwork suggested something much more mundane and boring, and they actually deliver here what is a perfectly enjoyable melodic metal album. I hope they retain Cooper's services on a regular basis as well; the guy fits in there like a glove.
Alon Miasnikov
