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Wow! wow - and
once more - woooooow! It has been years since
I've liked
a Classic Metal
Record that much. This album includes 10 monstrous
songs
that will grab you
(guess where from?) for the whole duration of the
album
(51+ minutes) and
will make you want to play this record again and
again.
This is the debut
album - if only every band could deliver such a
diamond of
debut, the world
of Metal would become a better place to be - of this
multinational quartet.
The band consists of two Greeks: singer Dimitris
Liapakis who is a also a
member of the Germans Valley's Eve and young
guitar
player Gus G.
(Nightrage), German bass player M. Albrecht (Valley's Eve,
ex-Stormwitch)
and the young Swede drummer D. Ekdahl (Raise Hell).
Liapakis knows how
to handle his vocals perfectly and add power,
melody
and real emotion
instead of trying to scream all the time or hit high
notes
just for the
hell of it. The guy can sing everything really well and
his
vocals are the
big plus in this record. I think that he really steals
the
show, but
thankfully not in the same way that 99.99% of the Classic
Metal /
Power
Metal singers are trying to achieve that. Instead, he achieves
that by
the
sheer class that he possesses and his professional attitude and
delivery. He
is also responsible for producing the album and doing a
really
good job in
delivering a warm, rough and powerful sound. Especially
brilliant is the mix,
since all instruments are in a perfect level and
everything is coming out of
the speakers loud and clear.
Great deliveries can be expected from all
the other 3 members and
especially the guitar player, that while restrained
when playing his
powerful and solid as a rock riffs, when the song calls for
a solo he
really
lets rip with his perfectly timed and never overlong
melodic soloing.
I find impressive the fact that not only there is
not a weak song
to
be found here, but also the balance is absolutely
perfect. You will
find
fast songs, mid tempo songs and even 2 power ballads
(that really kick
ass
mind you), that give great variety to the album and
are placed in such
a way
that keep the music flowing so that the listener
won't get bored. Their
music may be rooted in the glorious '80s, but the
delivery is fresh,
exciting and I will say it once more, very balanced. Why?
Well, because
you
are not going to find a single moment where any of the 4
members of the
band
tries to impress the listener with something
unnecessarily over the
top.
Everybody plays for the song in this album and
this is why the end
result is
so perfect. Therefore I believe that this
album can be considered as a
good
lesson and a point of reference for all
the Classic Metal / Power Metal
bands that are trying to impress the listener
with over the top
"musicianship" and end up sounding ridiculous. Band
members and fans of
this
type of music should buy this album and realize
how things should be
done
from now on. Don't settle for second and third
rate bands when top
bands
like Mystic Prophecy release albums like this
one.
| Tracklist |
:
| Buy other Mystic Prophecy albums |
