Shadowquest - Armoured IV Pain

Published April 15 2015

*=Staff's pick	Blood Of The Pure Last Farewell All One Live Again* Midnight Sun* Reach Beyond The Dream* We Bring Power Insatiable Soul* Take This Life Where Memories Grow Freewheel Burning (Judas Priest-cover)

Genre	Power Metal	Patrik Johansson	Vocals
Tracks	11	Ragnar Widerberg	Guitar
Running time	49 Min.	Peter Huss	Guitar
Label	Independent	Jari Kainulainen	Bass
Release	January 26, 2015	Ronny Milanowicz	Drums
Country	Sweden	Kaspar Dahlqvist	Keyboard
Producer	Ronny Milanowicz
Similar artists	Judas Priest, Helloween (early)

Power metal really isn't my forte, but when Ragnar Widerberg - stringworker in perhaps better known Witherscape - mentioned that he had another band where he could live out his dreams of being a rock star and his dedication for Judas Priest and early Helloween, I just had to check out Shadowquest's debut album that came out earlier this year.

And, damn me, if this isn't quite alright! I suspect that if you're into power metal as it sounded when Helloween were at their best (that's right - when Kiske was the singer, haha!) you'll really dig Armoured IV Pain a tad more than this reviewer. The pure craftsmanship of Shadowquest, though, really impresses me, albeit that I don't get my motor running over everything on this record. Still, you'll find plenty of good song on the album. Live Again has a nice solid groove with good heavy riffing and a proper chorus. Midnight Sun has solid riffing and almost epic undertones, Reach Beyond The Dream has very nice pummelling on the bassdrums and at times I think about Avantasia when listening to the song.

Throughout the record I really enjoy the stringwork from Widerberg and Huss. Although the record doesn't peak by a longshot on the originalityside of things, there really isn't very much degrading I can say about the craftsmanship of playing solidly. This goes for the enjoyable keyboardplaying from Kaspar Dahlqvist and the bassplaying from Jari Kainulainen. Singer Patrik Johansson delivers a good and solid performance. He really has the power (pun intended) and the proper range for this kind of music.

To sum up: Armored IV Pain is a good record that while it will not get the earth to alter its course still got a confirmed death metal listener like yours truly to stomp his feet several times.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	5	7	8	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Martin