The band’s line-up features former Lionsheart members Steve Hales (drums)
and Pete Bartlett (bass/ keyboards) plus vocalist/ guitarist Jon Nicholas.
This is the band’s debut release on UK based Valhalla Records (what a great
label name!) although the band formed in the late 90’s.
Now the music is classic heavy metal meets power metal with lashings of keyboard runs and
guitar solos overload. That’s not to say it is a confused mess, quite the
opposite as the band have some excellent tunes like opener ‘Total Eclipse’
and the soaring guitar/harmonies on ‘Discretion’ (reminded me of the last
Praying Mantis album in the harmonies construction).
Vocalist Jon Nicholas is more than capable of matching the musical bombast created by the band and
can hit those Bruce Dickinson style siren vocals when needed. The album
loses its way with the last couple of tracks - these are not bad
songs they just lack that killer touch. The production is good overall but
then you’d expect nothing less with Threshold’s Karl Groom involved.
Definitely worth a listen and another fine band to add to the growing
ranks of UK based metal bands like Intense, Power Quest and Shadowkeep.
***** Out of this world | **** Pretty
damn fine |
*** OK, approach with caution unless you are a fan |
** Instant bargain bin fodder | * Ugly. Just ugly
