(Rated this album with 8 out of 10) Reviewed by
Matt from www.prog.web.com
As far as straight-up power metal albums go, this has to be one of the genre's finest; it's one of the best true power metal albums I've heard, at least. The attitude of the album is very spirited and captivating, not to mention bombastic, uptempo, operatic, fast, melodic, and fun! Yes fun. Heck, they somehow managed to seamlessly, tastefully, and (most amazingly of all) naturally sneak the melody of "Old Susana" into a metal song!! Throughout the album, Kai's riffs are glorious, as usual, and his vocals, though not outstanding are very, very good and impressive (it's simply not fair that a man can be such an extremely talented guitarist and have a voice such as this!). The vocal arrangements are soaring and beautiful, the guitars are fast and furious, and the drums are not the typical constant double-bass annoyance that can often ruin otherwise perfectly good power-metal albums. I think this album has to be a "must own" for any and all power metal fans, and should definitely warrant serious consideration from prog metal fans, as well. As an aside, this album also contains what is, in my opinion, one of the greatest power-metal ballads (or perhaps just flat-out one of the greatest power-metal songs) of all-time, the majestic "Pray."
