MERCY FALLS

Dream Theater and Seventh Wonder were my favorite prog metal discoveries. SW maybe even more, because with DT I knew what to expect, but this Swedish band (is half the population of this country musicians?!) exceeded all my expectations.

The style is melodic power prog metal. All familiar ingredients to be sure, but this is by far the best band in this genre. Just overloaded with great melodies, this particular album is. Just disregard the interludes and voice samples. They serve to drive the story, of course, but the story is not that interesting and anyway difficult to follow.

Getting back to the pluses. Virtuoso instrumentalists, with guitar it is common, but bass here is truly outstanding. And even better vocals - powerful and bright, more pop than metal. The singer later replaced Roy Khan in Kamelot, but his talents are wasted there... But, with all the great music, horrible, horrible lyrics. They are better in the previous and following albums, but here... Argh.

If I were forced to look for drawbacks, I could mention that for such loud and bombastic music such album length is too much. It's difficult really to listen it from beginning to the end. But it's like saying there is too much of a good thing. So, a 4,5 rating would be in order. that means we have to round up. Well I like the band so much, and I want them to succeed - which unfortunately, they can't despite all the good praise they get - so 5.