Return to Reality

So, what do we have here? Let's see: Italian Power Metal signed on Underground Symphony. The album art has naked nymphs and a long-haired dude on it. The logo has some silly frills. The song titles have a fantasy theme to them. Looks like another half-assed Rhapsody clone to me.

The album starts off with a little symphonic intro, and then the true opener, Time of Reality, charges in. All the makings of the quintessential power metal song are here: double bass, happy melodies, soaring vocals, tacky keyboards, fast riffs and even faster solos. This first song sets the tone for the rest of the album, and the same formula is repeated for each song, with varying degrees of success.

The vocals in this album are the focal point, carrying the melody for large sections of the album. Daniel Reda is a fairly competent vocalist, especially in his low-ish range, but he sounds strained when he goes to high, and, unfortunately, he does that quite often. This would be a better album if the rest of the band kept him in his true range. The harsh vocals, while used sparingly, are completely laughable. It sounds like they just pitch-shifted someone talking, which seems really cheap.

There is a surprising amount of riffs on this album, and a comparative lack of keyboards. Lots of power metal bands seem to abandon the guitar, and I'm glad to say that Pandaemonium doesn't. I'm not saying that this is a total riff-fest or anything, but there are some pleasing licks scattered around. The solos are your typical neoclassical shredfests, which works here.

The rhythm section provides a decent base, but nothing else. The drumming is good, but nothing outstanding. Same with the bass. It has a few standout sections, but it mainly just holds things down.

The production is clear, although the drums seem a little too high. They keyboards are kept somewhat in the background, and the vocals soar over everything, which is how it should be.

I said before that this seemed like a Rhapsody clone at first glance, and that's basically what it is. This is power metal at it's cheesiest extreme (well, maybe they don't have enough keyboard action to be truly considered the cheesiest). There's nothing majorly wrong here, even if it's not the most original thing around. If you like happy euro power metal, this will be right up your alley. If you don't, this album definitely won't convince you.