LIBERATION

3.5 stars. I feel a little guilty in not giving this album 4 stars because there are so many great moments on it. I'm not a big fan of the vocals that do sound like Dennis DeYoung at times. He has a powerful voice but I don't like the tone when he sings loudly. The lyrics which I don't usually take much notice of are very impressive. It's not often that i'll read the words of all the songs, but I did because they are that good. Lots of keyboard and guitar solos on this one as well.

"The Lhasa Road (No Surrender)" is a good opener that features the bands technical ability. Nice guitar solo 2 1/2 minutes in but an even better one 4 minutes later. The bass and drum work late is a highlight as well. "March Of The Red Dragon" is just over a minute of drums and synths that blends into "The Blood Of Ages". It turns heavy rather quickly until the vocals come in. This contrast continues. I really like the beautiful guitar solo that comes after the mellow passage 5 minutes in. This and "When Your Ready" are my two favourite tracks. "A Thousand Years" opens with some nice guitar. The keys are also impressive after 3 minutes. Check out the guitar to end the song. "When Your Ready" is simply gorgeous for the first 2 minutes before it becomes more powerful. The original melody does return 6 1/2 minutes in. This is the longest song at almost 9 minutes.

"Musical Cages" opens with some great sounding guitar that goes on for 2 1/2 minutes and then the piano takes over. Some riffing follows before we get a keyboard solo. Nice bass lines ! The guitar is very active as well. Great instrumental. "Monolith" is a short acoustic guitar piece with a Spanish flavour. "The Guardian Of Forever" opens sounding like FATES WARNING so i'm already won over. It becomes fairly light though before getting heavy again. "Howl" is another short instrumental. It opens with synths but the guitar is the star of this show. Nice. It blends into "The Wolf" which becomes an uptempo song with passionate vocals. Some beautiful guitar after 2 minutes. "To Say Goodbye,Part III: Still Here" has some really uplifting moments on it. Almost Neo sounding with uptempo synth runs. Good track. "Tong-Len" is another short instrumental. It opens with Eastern sounds before the piano takes over. Very tasteful and peaceful closing track.

I'm looking forward to hearing their debut that everyone seems to like better than this one. I can recommend this one heartily to anyone who is into melodic Prog-Metal.