Logar's Diary - Book II: Parlainth - The Forgotten City

*=Staff's pick	Parlainth The Restless Troll* Hirob's Words The Spell (Parlainth Trilogy - Pt 1) Casket Of The Last Resident* Dark Destiny Of Parlainth (Parlainth Trilogy - Pt 2)* Seance - Rebirth Cursed Soul Torgak's Speech Bearer Of Light Circle's Last Link Parlainth's Discovery (Parlainth Trilogy - Pt 3) Under One Sky*

Genre	Power Metal	Hagen Hirschmann	Vocals
Tracks	13	Steven Schubert	Guitar
Runningtime	57 Min.	Christoph Uhl	Guitar
Label	Metal Fortress	Felix Gretzer	Bass
Release	27 Feb. 2006	Stefan Renner	Drums
Country	Germany	Michael Kwandt	Keyboards
Similar artists	The Storyteller, Rhapsody

Book II might be considered as the "real" debut from Logar's Diary, at least with a record label in the back. The self-financed debut entitled Book I: Iostros released by this German band in 2001 was sold in 1500 copies. The power metal from Logar's Diary is lyrically based on the adventures of the magician Logar in the Earthdawn-universe. As you probably have guessed by now the band Logar's Diary deliver fantasy inspired power metal as many has done before, but not all do it as good as these guys.

The power metal bares clear traces of folk music and brings a medieval touch to the otherwise traditional power metal, not seldom in likeness with Swedish band The Storyteller. The vocal lines are structured nicely and melodic and do not seldom cling of folk inspired melodies. After the spoken intro The Restless Troll enraptures you with its high-speed catchy tune and its folk inspired vocals lines and the refrain that is of a drinking song character, perfectly suiting the inn of The Restless Troll. Hirob's Words is a classic power metal tune with a flute taking the leads and with tasteful orchestrated arrangements reminding of Rhapsody. Logar's Diary is using orchestral arrangements to a great extent to enhance the music but is not going to such extremes as Rhapsody for instance.

Another song worthy of mentioning is Casket Of The Last Resident with a high and mighty stomping and marching mid-tempo rhythm with folk-ish melody lines. Cursed Soul on the other hand is a track that falls out of frame. It is an orchestrated track with a slow tempo and when the vocals are to carry the weight of the song it tends to snap. With the calmer vocals parts it sounds a bit weak, and it is when some strength is put in the voice like in the catchy speed bullet Under One Sky the vocals come to its fully right. You can't ignore that this is standard fantasy inspired power metal, but this is in the top regions even though Logar's Diary has a tendency to be a little too much of the same and have songs that sound similar. But Logar's Diary enrich their music with tasteful melodic breaks and like to throw in a melodic lead by flute here and there. And I also feel that it might be a bit too much orchestration. Even if it never gets in the way of the metal, it feels like there could have been some more raw power with a "cleaner" sound.

To sum this up it can be said that Logar's Diary deliver their power metal with pomp, catchy tunes and fast melodies, and although there are things that can be improved and there are some occasional downs, this is damn good. As the album starts and ends with killer songs you get positive vibes of Book II: Parlainth - The Forgotten City long after it has stopped spinning.