Reigning Memories

Ion Vein, right now, is not a very popular band. I feel though if this album gets a lot of recognition it could put them at the top. Reigning Memories is successful at doing many things, in which I will explain coming up. The album begins with a pretty cool intro that begins to give feeling towards the album. Then the album jumps off into one of the best songs from this album Another Life. Another Life shows the amazing skill that Lotesto has for writing, and not just writing guitar riffs. The guitar riffs mixed with the drumming supplies the listener with a taste of what this band is about. The solo's blend a nice style of progressive and a hint of neo-classicism.

Ion Vein is also big into progressive metal and it's styles. This is easily seen in the eight minute epic Reigning Memories. Their are a lot of good riffs, both heavy and slow. Twilight Garden shows a more softer side with a well written acoustic part. Kind of weird with a saxophone in there, but it is a pretty good song. Another awesome part about this album is the singing, which sounds a lot like Queensryche's singing. Plus the back up vocals are excellent to, like on the song Faith and Majesty, another really good song from this album.

This album, like I said, might put this band on top of things. It has a lot of power, a lot of excellent riffs, and decent songs enjoyable to most metal fans. If you like progressive metal or bands like Fates Warning and Queensryche, then you will definitely like this album. Reigning Memories has a lot to offer. Good songs to check out are, Another Life, Edge of Forever, Faith and Majesty, Reigning Memories, and the Adrian's Ladder trilogy.

"Reigning Memories" is the second album of the American Power Metal band Ion Vein. Their debut album "Beyond Tomorrow" was released in 1999, so we had to wait four years for this album and it was definitely worth the wait. The band has evolved very much since their debut and in my opinion they now belong to the best power metal bands at the moment. I can describe their sound as a mix of early Queensrÿche and a little bit of Kamelot, but Ion Vein has certainly it's own identity. A special mention has definitely got to go to vocalist Russ Klimczak who has the perfect voice for this kind of complex but also melodic music. The other musicians are also top notch, but that is obvious if you're playing with technicality. This is also one of the best produced albums that I heard lately, but with legendary producer Neil Kernon you can only expect this kind of result. And to top it all, the artwork is also superb as it was done by the well known Mattis Norén. I hope that this band gets the recognition that they deserve, because I think this album is far better as the last Dream Theater album. A must have for every fan of first class power metal !