Evil's Domain

Where have these guys been? I'm actually a bit suprised that I haven't heard of these guys up until now! This is power metal done RIGHT. It's aggressive, it's as heavy as a bag full of monster trucks, and it has BALLS. No flowery, happy, pussy stuff here. It's got a by Kai Hansen-era Helloween and early Queensrÿche feel to them, so it has that old school bite to it. The choruses are still melodic and for the most part memorable (there are some off moments), but they don't overshadow everything else by being overblown and too grand. The drums are insane and revel in total speed and chaos, but the double bass isn't overdone and pushed into the front of the mix, like alot of the modern power metal bands tend to do these days. The riffs are very strong and have lots of umph to them (refer to the opening track, "Rules Of The Past" for a great example). And no happy, happy melodies here!

Highlights include the aforementioned opener, the speedy "Rules Of The Past", the slower, but no less heavy, title track (nice riffs in this song too) "Everlasting Curse" which returns us the fast, and ballsy assault of the opening track. And we can't forget the atmospheric ballad "Unchained". The singer shows here that he can sing with power and feeling in a softer backdrop, in addition to unleashing vicious Michael Kiske and Geoff Tate-like screams on our poor little ears, throughout the rest of the album.

But like most albums, this album has its weak point. For me, when this album was on, it was ON. But when it misses the mark (ie: "Blood Money", though the keyboard intro is cool.), it comes off as generic and forgettable. Fortunately, this doesn't happen too often, but keep in mind that it still does happen. Overall, this is total hard driving, blazing, HEAVY power metal, with speed metal leanings. If you want your power metal with aggression, intensity, take-no-prisoners speed and balls, you can't really go wrong with this album.