Cydonia - The Dark Flower

*=Staff's pick	Midnight Man* Voices One Last Crime* Dark Flower Invisible Another Age* Beyond Time* Master Shadow Diamond Dust* Losing My Faith

Genre	Thrash/Power Metal	Dan Keying	Vocals
Tracks	10	Steve Sguario	Guitar
Runningtime	42 Min.	Pete Daniels	Guitar
Label	Metal Blade Records	Trevor O'Neal	Bass
Release	07 April 2003	Stefan Ray	Drums
Country	Italy	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Squealer, Brainstorm, Angel Dust

Cydonia made their first international impact in February 2001 with the album "Cydonia". Now the band is presenting their new album, completely written and produced by singer and leader Dan Keying.

Those of you who are expecting and craving another straightforward powermetalalbum in the veins of most of what come out of Italy will be vastly disapponted, or - should I say - surprised?

Cydonia has gone through a lot of changes the past years, and not much are now left of the ordinary metal they tried to play on the debut. They now move in the realms of thrash metal, with significant touches of progressivness in the music, but they have not lost their ability and will to serve us catchy and melodic refrains.
I think this is way better than their debutalbum, and apart from the bands that are mentioned as similar artists a band like Labÿrinth also fits in the description when it comes to the arrangements.
The first song sets a mark for the rest of the album with very heavy, sharp riffs with mostly thrasy elements that bring us up to a chorus that makes us sing along and think of the kind of metal that their countrymen usually perform.
Songs that stand out are the openers Midnight Man, Another Age and basically all tunes on the second half of the cd, as it feels like the album grows on to you and by the time we reach the end, the songs Diamond Dust and Losing My Faith feel very welcome as you than are in a state where the music has growned on you and you're yearning for more.

The album keeps a good pace with wellmade and strong compositions, and we are spared from fiaskos and slimy ballads. The mid- and second part of the album carries us along in a way that manages to keep the interest up, and what really saves this album are the mostly catchy refrains, which are lifted a few extra notches just because of Keying's very strong vocals.

A few things that I personally find a little less appealing are the lack of solos - they are few, and the ones we get to hear are kind of non-saying and colorless - and the fact that there are a couple of changes in tempo too much. In some of the songs they seem to be there just for the sake of it instead of the purpose of fitting in the song, but the real fans of this kind of genre i suspect will find it just perfect.

Nevertheless an interesting album for you to discover if you are looking for something outside the ordinary powermetalscene, but still melodic and catchy, and definitly a step in the right direction for Cydonia.

This will be interesting to follow.