Salvation By Fire

If I'm not mistaken, these guys come from Finland and this Salvation By Fire is their debut album.. So Power Metal from Finland, hehe, that usually announces good predicts doesn't' it ? Very fast I understood that this would not be a release to remember. A few things quickly came to my ears as a warning alarm. First, the production, not strong enough to compete with nowadays productions. Don't misunderstand me, it's sounding okay, but this kind of production acts like a break on bands like Burning Point that count on strong riffs and powerful drumming to add an epic & powerful feeling to their release. The second problem, and this one is a much bigger one : is the singer and his total lack of range ! He doesn't sing badly, but his vocals are quite low for this kind of powerful and melodic metal and he almost never makes any kind of variations. So in the end, you get a very cool music, although not very original, with guitars flying all over the place, excellent solos (definitely Iron Maiden inspired), strong riffs... but the singer keeps the band hundreds of miles behind. With today's competition in that specific category, I don't see Burning Point taking themselves a place in the crowded scene. They have a few excellent songs, like Lake Of Fire or Fall Of Thy Kingdom that delivers one of the best riffs I've heard this year. But it's really not enough to save the day, something must be done about these vocals or I don't think the band will stand a chance. A nice band, one against many in the scene already (maybe too many !). It seems the fire won't salvage this release (nor will the ghost track at the end of the CD). I hope for the band that the singer will improve, cause Burning Point is delivering some excellent songs on that CD. You may want to check theses guys if you like Melodic and/or Epic Power Metal, but bare in mind that vocals are below the average (to say the least). For die-hard fans of the genre only, but even so I suggest you try before investing !