PHOENIX RISING

I can't belive I'm the first reviewer of this great band. No one was intrested to discover this talented and in same time very skilfull band so far. This is their second album from 1997 named Phoenix rising. I might say I was really impressed, great musicianship combined with great ideas, awesome instrumental passages. Here are gathered a bunch of great musicians, taken each one as individual they are really skilfull. The music from here is like you combined Yngwie Malmsteen, Rainbow and even in places Deep Purple, but they are not a copy/paste band, they have their own aproach to prog metal. The cherry on the cake is for me, the voice of John West (who has many collaborations with bands like Royal Hunt, solo careeretc), a realy gifted singer, with some outstanding jaw droping vocal parts, and the key of the ukrainean player Vitalij Kuprij, these two are simply amazing what is doing here. The other musicians involved here are the omnipresent Mike Terrana on drums also playing with Rage, colaboration with Yngwie Malmsteen, solo career, etc did a great job here, showing that is one of the best in last 20 years in his field. The guitar parts are aranged by the main songwriter and the cofounder of Artention with Vitalij - Roger Staffelbach - who is a good guitar player but is not so evident here, he is doning his job and that's all, anyway a good one. The bass elements are great but nothing realy outstanding. The best pieces are all to me , from mellow parts to a more rough ones made from this second album a good addition to any colection, a great album with a lot to offer, 4 stars easy. One of the best I've heared in last couple of years in prog metal.