This is the third album form the German Power Metal unit, and what a nice surprise this has turned out to be. The concept about the Metalian continues, and this time around it's more refreshing, dramatic and interesting than on their first albums, both lyrically and musically. Our hero is reincarnated into historical or classical persons and stories like that of Odysseys, Rasputin, and Romeo and Juliet, some of these songs involves guest musician's, which has turned out very successful.
Let me introduce some of these fine songs.
Revenge Of Tizona is a great up-tempo track with stunning high-pitch vocals, a powerful rhythm section and excellent harmonious leads.
Rasputin is another fantastic Power Metal cut, the build-up being quite intense, featuring a very catchy chorus and a most excellent thrilling guitar solo.
These are songs with lots of powerful vibes and a special blend of melody and hardness.
The hymn
Odin's Spell features epic keyboards by Don Airey that gives the song an extra dimension, showing that this album is so much more than traditional Power Metal.
Tight bass lines from Lars Ratz and Micheal Ehré's heavy drumming sets a solid base for this very atmospheric song.
Accused To Be A Witch has some very cool changing moods and exiting guitar passages, the chorus on the other hand appears rather simple and lacking something to make it more memorable.
Things get really fast with
Throne In The Sky, an intense rocker with a thundering guitar solo and Henning Basse's vigorous voice as a central aspect.
Odyssey is lead by a most excellent mystic guitar melody and the rhythm section is filled with cool refinements. A fantastic song with a massive groove.
Fate Conquered The Power is supported by refreshing hammond melodies by Ken Hensley, a slower song featuring huge chorus' and a very heavy binding guitar riff. The way some verse parts are worked into the track is just a little too ordinary, cool song anyway though.
Infinite Love features a romantic duet between Henning Basse and Carolin Fortenbacher, a bit stretched out key/piano ballad that nevertheless has a great dramatic edge that again adds to the impression of a very diverse record.
What makes these compositions even better is the very solid musical handling they receive. The bass is very present and creates a lot of action, the vocals are excellent and many of the guitar passages and solos are down right amazing. When also taking into account the powerful double bass drumming and very fitting keyboard parts we have a brilliant band performance.
Production-wise the sound is overall crispy and tight; anyway the drums could have been more up front in the mix.
Summing up this album is packed with melodic tunes served in a diverse and interesting fashion.
Written by
Tommy Tuesday, December 23, 2003
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