Mysterious Time

Let's start first by a big Thanks to Leonard Taiti (Frozen Tears' rhythm guitar) who send us this record. Enter (intro) leave us after 1 minute and The Edge opens the door to what we call today "a Blind Guardian song", where heavy metal and melodies dance together. Overall, this Mysterious Time is heavy metal orriented and I can tell you these Italians musicians are good, really good. Iron Maiden is also very present here (Time, Shadow). Frozen Tears impressed me by the quality of their songs. A rocky is born, no doubt about it. The big minus here is the singer. I was wondering sometimes if Alessio Taiti will not explode his vocals and if he will survive until the end of the record. Don't misunderstand me here; he is not out of tunes (not at all), he just give me the impression he will explode his vocals within the next ten seconds. On the other hand, Alessio is not trying to imitate anyone and his singing reminds much more the 80's rather than modern copycats or "wanna be" like Halford or Bruce. He looks very young on the booklet and has all the necessary time to improve and put Frozen Tears as a new heavy metal force in Italy. The production is honest, but it could have been better. It is clear enough and gives lot of space to the vocals, less to the guitars, which are placed too much in background for my taste. They have managed to sound fresh and old fashioned in the same time. Technically, these musicians rules and they know how to write good stuff (there are many changing rhythm and many solos). At the end, these young Italian impressed me: good song-writing, catchy, melodic even though I have found some riffs or tunes reminding me other bands (Iron Maiden or Blind Guardian just to mention what seems to be their biggest influences). For a start, this Mysterious Time is an excellent start. If they can improve a bit the vocals and have a crystal clear production, something interesting will hit us again ... from Italy. Congratulation for the cover art!