Orion Riders - A New Dawn

*=Staff's pick	In Memory Whispers A New Dawn* Leave The Shades Behind Lacrimae Angeli Light And Dark* Life's Best Days Nocturne Old Symphony*

Genre	Power Metal	Joe Lombardo	Vocals
Tracks	9	Antonello Condorelli	Guitar
Runningtime	42 Min.	Riccardo Failla	Guitar
Label	Lion Music	Carmelo Siracusa	Bass
Release	23 Jan. 2004	Tony Zappa	Drums
Country	Italy	Tony Zappa	Keyboards
Similar artists	Labyrinth, Rhapsody, Dark Moor

Italian power metal probably gives most people a pretty good idea on how Orion Riders might sound like and I could stop writing right here and now. Well not really, even if they perhaps don't contribute with anything new and groundbreaking, they give the listener some enjoyable moments.

Orion Riders can be seen as the missing link between Rhapsody and Labyrinth if you ever felt there was one missing, and with the strong similarities with Spanish band like Dark Moor you by now know that we are talking about the epic kind of power metal with heavily orchestrated parts.
With vocalist Joe Lombardo they have a really good singer that has been compared with both Kiske (ex-Helloween, Supared) and Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche), I can see those comparisons but I feel that he is closer to Rob Tyrant from Labyrinth and we he engages to screams and full throttle vocals he is closer to Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), and you have to agree on that there are worse vocalists to be compared with.

Their strength is how they let the classical music interact with the heavy metal, sometimes with strings in the background supporting and enhancing the music, or when it gets at its best is when the guitars and the classical music harmonies, really tastefully done with progressive rhythms that lifts Orion Riders above the average band in this genre. But the classical elements can also cause a problem, the music of Orion Rider loses its power when the music stops for a classical interlude, the rhythm gets lost and the flow in their music suffers until the pace is quickened again and the elements harmonies.

A New Dawn is the strongest track on the album alongside with Light And Dark, where the first one holds some great music and not least a lot of music in it with a driving rhythm that at some points makes me think about Shaman and Angra. Light And Dark is a fast track with strong similarities with Rhapsody at the beginning, but gets more varied along the way again with great rhythms and solos than what can be expected from the speedy Rhapsody-sounding start.
The biggest weakness with the debut from Orion Riders is that there isn't enough of strong material, nine tracks where the first Intro is perhaps justified as it gives a nice but short start of the album, but Lacrimae Angeli and Nocturne are just short instrumental pieces I could have done without, and that goes for the ballad Life's Best Days as well that is a standard power metal ballad that doesnt make me any happier. And that leaves us with six tracks counting the intro, for a full-length album they would at least have had one more track in order to get a higher grade from me.

Their debut is in the end a little rough around the edges, still there are many things that can be improved but the potential is definitely there without a doubt, and the music is good even though I wanted more. I get the feeling that they are not using their full capacity and hopefully with their next release they has matured as a band and can deliver a stronger album with a sound a bit more unique for Orion Riders.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
6	7	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Thomas