FAUST

Minstrel's debut album was ambitious, to say at least. A kind of a rock-opera based on Faust, one of the biggest characters in the history of literature. There has been countless other works made on Faust too and this album will off course automatic be judged upon these other Faust works.

......But Minstrel manages to pull it off.

Minstrel has put Faust into a classic RPI setting at the same time as retaining the theatrical Faust, the opera, feeling. Add some heavy prog metal like guitars too as their underlining of the lyrics. The vocals though is the bearing elements on this album. All the vocals are truly excellent. Some vocals are clear and some are opera. They are also in Italian and that is a good thing for this album. The sound is baroque throughout with the use of baroque instruments together with more modern instruments like synth and electric guitars.

I think there are too many of these modern instruments involved. I would had preferred a more baroque approach with more acoustic instruments. Hence me not giving it five stars. But the songs are great and this is a truly great RPI album. It is one of the best new era RPI albums.

4 stars