Empires of Eden – Reborn In Fire

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Following the break-up of Dungeon Empires of Eden is the new project from guitarist Stu Marshall, featuring guests galore and enough high-speed lead guitar to keep old Dungeon fans happy. Kicking off on Of Light And Shadows, vocal legend Michael Vescera puts his status in a little doubt. His performance is probably the worst of the album, including several bum notes, and not at all up to the standard of his recent solo album, even though his song is one of the best here; certainly the catchiest. Cage‘s Sean Peck on the other hand is simply magnificent on his track, Total Devastation, which is renascent of a fast Primal Fear track, with wailing vocal parts to match. Circle II Circle‘s Zak Stevens makes Prognatus Ut Obscurum sound like one of his own, English veteran Steve Grimmett (Grim Reaper) turns in one of his best performances of recent years on Beyond Daybreak and the versatile Carlos Zema (ex-Outworld) commands the Dream Theater-esque Rising. The other tracks, which are no less catchy and contain just as much guitar shredding, are handled by lesser-known Australian vocalists Louie Gorgievski (who handles three songs), Mike Zoias (Avarin) and Chris Ninni, who duet on the title track. If all power metal albums sounded like this, fewer metal fans would make so many jokes about it as a genre. Despite Vescera’s poor performance when compared to his usual standard, this is close to the perfect power metal album.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Power Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Empires of Eden