Beyond the Tomorrow

Thoten are one of the minority power metal bands from Brazil. They play a very straightforward melodic metal style with some atmospheric keyboards and effects. The themes and lyrics on this cd are based on Amerindian mythology.

There is some good guitar work here but a lot of the album is filled with acoustic/ballad sort of rubbish which really does not fit the concept of the album (perhaps some Native American ambience would have worked?). The vocals are also pretty poor, they are semi-highish but really there is no appear talent or uniqueness in the vocalist’s voice. Having said this they are tolerable and not the worst i have heard in power metal.

The pro's of this album are the lyrics and themes, not often do you find power metal albums on Amerindian mythology - so in that sense this album is unique. There is also some interesting usage of keyboards and piano on this album which actually works with the metal (sometimes power bands over do background atmospheres so you can't hardly hear the metal). The best song on the album is the last song 'Beyond the Tomorrow' (the title of the album) which is an epic power metal attempt (over 10 minutes) with some interesting atmospheric and progressive instrumental interludes.