NEW PROTECTION

First review of this album so far

Ride the sky is a young band but features members with a solid background in prog metal, the voice from Beyond Twilight, the drumer is an ex member of Masterplan and for almost ten years he was the gear of Helloween in the '90, no one than the great musician Uli Kusch and another 3 musicians more or less known by the wide public. Now the music of Ride the sky offers here a typical teutonic metal with prog metal leanings, not far from Masterplan or even Hellowen (Andi Deris era). This debute named New protection from 2007 is a good album, with nice and catchy pieces, well done production, great musicianship, but overall is not an outstanding release, only good to listen from time to time. So, this album desearve at least one listning if you are on prog metal side but don't expect to something never heared before or original here, is pleasent and enjoyble work , nothing more nothing less. The best piece are: title track New Protection , The Prince Of Darkness and maybe a couple more, the rest are ok. The pieces have less than 5,30 minutes all, so not an ecouraging view if you want to puchase this album, ok the musicianship is good, but they don't abuse of the instruments, is more like an effort as a whole not as individual, like on other prog metal bands, where the first thing is to share their skills no matter what. For New protection I will give 3 stars, a good one, but nothing special , really.

To be honest, I wasn't really aware of this so called supergroup. I only had 2 Helloween albums, and they were all either very new or very old, and at the time I wasn't aware of the amazing power of Masterplan. But they had features that had attracted me, they were European, they were power metal and progressive metal. That's enough for me.

My brother had heard the song A Smile From Heavens Eye, and showed me the video on You Tube. I loved the song automatically. So when I heard of the album, I automatically wanted to purchase it, and was it any good?

Yes, it was quite good, but to be honest, I expected a little bit more and even though this album has some amazing songs, it does get watered down by a lot of filler stuff. There are some phenomenal songs on this album though.

I was sad to hear that these guys disbanded, because they showed real potential, and maybe even a second album would have been a better accomplishment. Hopefully this isn't the last we here from them and maybe a reunion could be announced.

Basically, these guys weren't accepted as well as they should have been.

1. New Protection - What a way to start off an album. Amazing song with amazing vocals from Bjorn. The chorus is infectious to say the least. The guitar solo is also amazing. The symphonic cuts also add a very epic edge to this song. The video for this song is quite cool as well, with the obvious rip off to Lego's Bioncles.

2. A Smile From Heaven's Eye - What song. Very catchy and powerful. This song always puts me in a good mood.

3. Silent War - Interesting chorus. Very filler to be honest. I do like the very metal elements of the song.

4. The Prince Of Darkness - Very kick ass. Sounds like a crazy Dream Theater song. Amazing chorus with amazing instrumental work throughout. The ending reminds me of Symphony X.

5. Break The Chain - I like all the psychopathic shifts in tones. Pretty cool chorus with a very weird middle section.

6. Corroded Dreams - Very interesting chorus with very interesting vocals. I love the keychange at the end. The fadeout is also very cheesy.

7. The End Of Days - I love the main keyboard riff. Very Ayreon. I love the weird musical and time changes.

8. Far Beyond The Stars - Another great chorus. Very anthemic. The key change that leads to the end is very random though.

9. Black Cloud - Wow, what a heavy intro. The chorus is a bit weak. This song does have an amazing instrumental section.

10. Endless - The intro sounds like pop punk. Another filler song, really.

11. Heaven Only Knows - Very cheesy chorus. Again wee bit filler.

12. A Crack In The Wall - I like the symphonic intro. The bridge is better than the chorus, and is a lot more memorable. Good way to end the album.

CONCLUSION: A good album. There are some amazing songs on this album, but there is also a lot of filler stuff as well, sadly. But, the good songs are amazing, nonetheless.