Saidian - Phoenix

*=Staff's pick	Resurrection (Intro) Ride On A Phoenix Praise The Lord* State Of Euphoria Fallen Hero* Crown Of Creation See The Light Never Surrender The Jester Ride Like The Wind* Nine Lives Power And Glory* Reign Of Agony

Genre	Power Metal	Markus Engelfried	Vocals
Tracks	13	Rodrigo Blattert	Guitar
Runningtime	64 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Metal Heaven	Manuel Glassmann	Bass
Release	29 Sept. 2006	Klaus Sperling	Drums
Country	Germany	Markus Bohr	Keyboards
Similar artists	Edguy, Axxis, Sonata Arctica

The German band Saidian, founded by keyboardist Markus Bohr, is back with another slab of good ole' melodic power metal the way we heard it a few times before (nudge, nudge…). This is their second album and my first encounter with the band. What I've read and heard is that the debut was far from being a solid effort and therefore my expectations were quite low when I inserted the disc for the first time. I must say that I was quite surprised afterwards since it was a while ago I heard an album in the power metal genre with such dedication and confidence. In fact, I've got a feeling that a reduction of power metal releases has been made lately which is quite healthy considering the overdose we got a couple of years ago.

As stated earlier, Saidian brings nothing new to the scene but that's not a necessity if you're in possession of strong material and that is actually the case here on the lion part of the album. The rhythm section of Saidian is a solid unity that creates a great backbone to the overall sound that is dominated by melodic keyboards and efficient guitar riffs. The vocals of Markus Engelfried sounds like a clone of Tobias Sammet/Michael Kiske/Bernard Weiss and even if this suits the musical concept extremely well it feels like he is trying too hard to sound like someone else rather than developing his own identity. Tracks worth mentioning is the speedy Praise The Lord, the melodic sing-a-long monster Ride Like The Wind, the power metal hymn Power And Glory and last but absolutely not least Fallen Heroes which is among the best songs I've heard in the genre since the debut album from Timeless Miracle arrived a year ago.

Thirteen tracks are however a few too much since a few fillers have found its way into the final product and sadly this destroys the flow of the album and effects the final judgement. Fans of power- or melodic metal should definitely check this one up since it was a pleasant surprise for me and Phoenix is bound to be a common guest in my CD player from now on.

See also review of: For Those Who Walk The Path Forlorn

Production	Vocals	Compositions
8	7	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Hawk