THE DEVIL'S HALL OF FAME

Ok, so I wanted to give this album 4 stars But I can't. This is not an "excellent addition" to your progressive collection, this is a masterpiece of progressive metal in its purest form. This is a hard and heavy metal album, you won't find here any power influences or similar stuff like Pagan's Mind, just slow (well, mostly), heavy and dark METAL music. Right, so where to start. I guess I'll go with the main thing, the thing that makes this cd a masterpiece, an album that leaves all the competition far, far behind. That thing is Jorn Lande's vocals. Yeah, I know he's good and stuff, but what he did here is by far the best vocal work I have heard in life. I'm afraid even Daniel Gildenlow couldn't make it that good. Jorn at his top, no matter what he will record, he won't beat this baby, it's impossible, it's just perfect, thrilling and amazing. I believe there are some samples on Beyond Twilight homepage, I've got three on my disc for quick access, you know, when I'm in need of hearing these vocal lines and I haven't got time for the whole song. Hellfire, Crying and Shadowland - get those, and then you'll understand what I'm trying to tell you. Enough of the vocals, the music - ohhh, I really don't know what to say. It's surely not as versatile as "For the Love of Art and the Making", you won't find any rock opera orchestrations, no so-called "epic" moments with choirs, but I think I already mentioned that this is pure progressive metal. Basically the songs are slow, the atmosphere is rather dark, so you won't find this an optimistic album, but who cares. Yeah so an awesome album, mostly because of the vocals - without them it would be only 4 stars, but I can't describe a cd with the best Jorn Lande's vocals different than "essential"