The Legend Begins

Heroic deeds, warriors, prophecies, kings and monsters mixed with melodic guitars, majestic keyboard solos and bombastic choirs... Yeah, it’s Italian power metal all right. This time it’s the seven man (and woman) strong band Beholder that wants to join the game and challenge Rhapsody, and you have to admit they make a decent effort.

The music has clearly huge similarites to groups like Rhapsody, Thy Majestie, Secret Sphere and Dark Moor. The big difference consists of the fact that Beholder is fronted by two lead vocalists: The sweet tender voice of Leanan and the not-so-sweet-and-tender voice of Patrick. The songs follow the extremely unoriginal storyline where the good guys, the Goran Knights, will go on a quest to save the land from the evil forces. Yes, it all ends up in a giant battle where *spoiler alert* the good fellows are victorius (oh, these terrific Italian storytellers...). Except for the cheesy lyrics, that most likely will make your ears bleed, the record grows on you for every listen.

Songwriter Patrick Wire has sewn together a bunch of great songs; just too bad he sings horrible. His voice stays in a very dark tone through the entire album and defines the opposite of versatile. Luckily you can lean back and enjoy Leanan who sings in the much higher register, although she could need about thousand hours of English practice. The two of them fits quite nicely together, especially when singing every other line.

“The Legend Begins” doesn’t contain any weak tracks nor fillers, all songs contribute in their way to keep the quality on a high level. Beholder also contains two fairly skilled guitarists and they’ve managed to avoid the terrible production that other Italian bands, Heavenblast and Thy Majestie for example, have been suffering from. “The Ring of Freedom” and “Call for Revenge” are among the highlights with catchy uptempo melodies and cool guitar licks. If you’re a fan of Italian power metal, or any melodic power metal for that matter, this one shouldn’t disappoint you.