Futurepast

I have to say I like Evillot and Lightbringer a lot, which is perhaps the reason I can listen to this album and enjoy it.

Because what has exactly happened? I'm not sure. I'm guessing something like Power Symphony being exposed to the international metal press and keeping reading comparisons between themselves and other Italian power metal bands, and subsequently deciding to sound more like them.

I mean, they're making symphonic, epic, heavy metal, that appeals to power metal fans and thus in a way is original. What then moves them to start using a lot of familiar power metal song structures, riffs, and even prog-metally vocal lines? I swear, a lot of elements here are copied, and gone are the long epic build-ups.

Ok, perhaps they're not copied. I can say at least that Power Symphony has fallen into the trap of making 'standard' songs. Armies Of Saints is just too cheasy, and Blood Of My Enemies just screams Manowar. (BIG FAT EDIT: ok, so it actually IS a Manowar-cover! I found that out after writing this review. That changes things a bit of course; it's the over-the-top vocal-performance that peeved me in this song, which can be heard in other parts of the EP as well.)

Ok, copying is not necessarily a bad thing (not talking about the Manowar-cover anymore), but when you're imitating you're never a 100% perfect copy, and quality gets lost in the proces. Where Power Symphony sounded honest on Evillot, here they sound like they're eager for succes. At any rate those vocal lines, riffs and occasional guitar-wails sound way too familiar to be of interest.

Perhaps I'm not being fair here. I just listened to Evillot, massively enjoyed it in a personal sort of way, and then immediatly listened to Futurepast, which seems like such a step back. Maybe it's just 'different'. But damnit, not different enough from so much other music I've heard during my short existence! I guess this album is enjoyable if you're in for a bit cheesy power metal with a different twist (hey, how many metal bands have female vocalists that sound like this?). And here be no dragons. Just a lot of clean production. And of course, a more experienced vocalist. Maybe that's what's wrong; it takes the edge of the uniqueness by sounding a bit more polished.

Ah well, this EP is for the fans.