Zandelle - Twilight On Humanity

*=Staff's pick	Warlords of Steel* The Champion* A Hero's Quest Lord of Thunder* Immortal Realms Delusions* Eternal Love Sunrise The Cycle Twilight on Humanity*

Genre	Power Metal	George Tsalikis	Vocals
Tracks	10	Anthony Maglio	Guitar
Runningtime	62 Min.	T. W. Durfy	Guitar
Label	Inside Out Records	-	Bass
Release	23 Sep. 2002	Bob Delmini	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Iced Earth, Wizard

Are you one of those who misses the good old 80's american metal-sound? Then you just stumbled on an album that will take you there again. New York- based Zandelle will provide you will exactly that and more on their third studio-release, Twilight on Humanity. This won't go down as anything groundbreaking and the feeling of having heard it before emerges quite quickly. But Zandelle's praise of the metalgods of the past is performed extremely well and the band delivers top quality epic metal. They have also managed to mix the old influences with newer ones without comprising the slightest on the sound or the legacy of the era.

This is very powerful music based on fast and heavy riffing, tempo changes, technical breaks, epic elements, great vocals and melodies plus of course the expected tales of fantasy, heroes and mystery.

The sound majorly revolves around the awesome guitarwork of Anthony Maglio and the great vocals of George Tsalikis. The former has a very powerful sound to it and contains both more furious beginnings and slower epic ones. But we're also in for some very great breaks and excellent power-cord-riffing in the instrumental parts of the tracks and you can of course also add great solos, galloping rhythms and accoustic elements and to that list.
Overall the actual sound of the guitar is rough, raw and it might even be described as a bit "dirty" and harsch. The singing department is of the true metal sort, which means the usual clichés with soaring vocals, high-tone metal screams, good choirs and even some death metal growling on the title track.

This is the backbone in the sound of Zandelle and if you also take in the opening description of the band, a 50-50 mix of faster and more mid-tempo tracks, long epic songs (most of them covers more than 6 minutes) with great melodies and tempo-changes you have what Zandelle is all about nicely wrapped up.

Musically they most resemble other american bands of the 80's like Helstar and Warlord, and I also caught some Iron Fire and Domine resembling elements but that is probably more of a personal feeling than the actual situation.

I definitely won't award any prize in originality though, but if metal is supposed to be in the old classic american metal-style then Zandelle has provided a formidable choice for us. Fans of happy-metal probably won't appreciate this and perhaps many others of you might think this old-schoolbook metal should remain dead and buried for its predictable music and lack of revolutionary aspects.
I couldn't disagree more because no matter if the songs go in the double bass-keg pace or more slowly the killer melodies and intensity of this album totally knocks me off my feet. So make an effort to at least take a little of your precious time to check out Zandelle, 'cause well played metal of this magnitude doesn't come by often enough.

Highly recommended!!!

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7,5	9	9,5

Summary
9 chalices of 10 - Mat