Anthology - The Prophecy

Published August 04 2014

*=Staff's pick	The River Of Mystery The Prophecy Lost Dreams* Rise Up! Scream Into The Darkness* Open Your Eyes No Sorrow* Inside My Rage Fate In Your Hands The Secret Of Midnight* No Sorrow Orchestra (Bonus)

Genre	Power/Symph./Speed Metal	Raylyn Shayde	Vocals
Tracks	11	Majo Gonda	Guitar
Running time	57 Min.	Miro Grman	Guitar
Label	---	Marek Štech	Bass
Release	02 May 2014	Peter Pleva	Drums
Country	Slovakia	Martin Solárik	Keyboard
Producer	Roland Grapow
Similar artists	Helloween, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Symphony X

Genuine power metal from the east of Europe, that certainly caught me off guard. I didn't know what to expect. The build-up with grand piano melodies and chants, accelerated my anticipation, and when the guitar started ripping I sat tight in my chair, appreciating the fast paced tunes that followed. Truly headbanging-friendly music!

I was surprised and quite charmed by the lovely voice of Raylyn Shayde. In "Lost Dream" there are mouth-watering rhythmic figures and delicate harmony melodies which left me wanting more. The guitar backing to the solos is amazing, and the drum fills made me expect something special further down the road. Although "Rise Up!" felt a bit like filler, "Scream Into The Darkness" certainly made up for it! Best power metal song I've heard in a while. It has been stuck in my head for a couple of weeks. An insta-repeat song that screams to be heard a couple of times in a row. My associations run towards battle, of the epic sort. There is a certain drive to this song which gets me forced to listen to it again and again, as it makes my head bounce. It urges you to use the closest surface with your hands as a drum until the fingers get blisters. Actually, I accidently poured out a beer on my keyboard because of this song…

Highlights besides "Scream Into The Darkness" are the pianos and the vocal performance in "No Sorrow", the galloping in "Fate In Your Hands" and the energy in "The Secret Of Midnight".

A worth pick-up for any fan of this genre. However, except for the fairly unique and charismatic singing there is not so much originality about this release. The pronunciation has a touch of her descent, which I find charming but some could dislike I guess. All in all, it's greatly executed energetic and melodious metal that incites enthusiastic head movements. I will gladly follow the progress of this band! Maybe this is only a prophecy of what is to come...

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	4	6	7	6,5

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Sofus