Thunderblaze

What do you get when you combine ¼ Hair Metal, ¼ Ozzy, ¼ Power Metal and ¼ True Metal in the vein of Hammerfall? Give up? The answer is something that is not good. With that, I'll begin the review of this album. I enjoyed Reptilian's first album "Castle of Yesterday" a lot. It was a really interesting Power Metal album that was a lot of fun to listen to. Was it as good as Rhapsody or Blind Guardian? No, but it was still well done and nice addition to a library. I was eager to hear their sophomore effort and I was really let down. My first complaint is the voice of singer Jonas Blum. On the first album, he sung much lower and there was a richness to his voice. That is not the case on this disc. He sounds like Ozzy Osbourne's retarded cousin. His vocals are extremely weak, thin and he seems to be stretching to reach the absolute limit of his range on nearly every note. If he had kept his vocals similar to the first album, this disc might have had a shot. That said, the choir vocals do sound very rich and are well articulated. This is especially apparent on the title track. Another nice touch is the guitar solos. All the solos on the album are well played and are just what a metal band should have in terms of solos. In contrast, the drum work is average at best for a power metal act. "Madman City" and "Chains of Love" are Hair metal song titles if I ever heard them and boy do they sound like hair metal. "Raging Storms" sounds like a ballad Extreme or Damn Yankees might have put out in their heyday. Not that I have a problem with hair metal, but when it's mish-moshed with true metal and power metal, it just doesn't work. In addition, I don't think you can have hair metal titles on an album when the rest of the songs are called "Vengeance of Dark Retribution", "Knight of Hades", "In My Zombie Sleep," etc. The first album was power metal with neo-classical influences and it worked. Jettisoning the neo-classical influence was a big mistake. I think Reptilian are just trying to do way too much on this album and it doesn't gel well. The one track that is really killer is the last song on the album called "Bulletspeed." It is true metal without compromise and they do a good job on it. It has the fat Iced Earth guitar, a breakdown reminiscent of Metallica's "One," and the solo is pretty cool as well. Finally, one of the Japanese bonus tracks is a cover of Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance." It has no place on this or any other album. It sounds cartoony and childish and is not something a metal band should put on their album. Reptilian had a chance to make this song their own and metalify it but instead they stayed way too close to the source material and it sounds like a circus sideshow song instead of a metal anthem a la Manowar's "Sting of the Bumblebee." This album is also boring to listen to. After the tenth listen, I was sick of it. There was no replay value in it for me. If you liked the first disc, as I did, you are in for a real surprise if you pick up this album.