Silent Force - Worlds Apart

*=Staff's pick	Ride The Storm No One Lives Forever* Hold On Once Again* Master Of My Destiny Heroes Death Comes In Disguise* Merry Minstrel Spread Your Wings Iron Hand* Heart Attack* Worlds Apart

Genre	Heavy Metal	DC Cooper	Vocals
Tracks	12	Alexander Beyrodt	Guitar
Runningtime	58 Min.		Guitar
Label	Noise Records	Jurgen Steinmetz	Bass
Release	20 Sept. 2004	Andre Hilgers	Drums
Country	Germany/USA	Torsten Rohre	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

After a few years of trouble, consisting of some members being in hospital and other mishaps, Silent Force is back with their 3rd album. They continue on the road we have seen them travel from the start, but with a slight change of approach, toward a more mature sound, but still with both feet steady on the classic metal ground. It is once again a statement of well crafted and delightful metal of the high ranks.

The music is like before based on heavy and strong riffing, as well as great leads by guitarist Beyrodt, and the great voice of DC Cooper. Melodies, strong refrians and a fat and juicy sound picture are backing the whole thing up and gives a solid impression of a class act. They offer a perfect mix of fast driven, uptempo song in true german style, as well as rich and more epic tunes with great pondus, without slacking behind of melodies at any point. Compared to the splendid album Infatuator, released in 2001, this is a bit more mature and is focusing a bit more diversity then speed, and the few Judas Priest/Primal Fear elements that were present back then are almost non existing here, except for some sharp and great riffs by Beyrodt here and there. Check out especially Heroes or Heart Attack for an example of that.

DC Cooper once again show what a great vocalist he is, but this time he really does not reach up to the awesome level I have heard him accomplish before, and especially on Infatuator. The whole effort has been produced by Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69, among others), which garantuee a dynamic and clear sound. There are some slower bits that is not working as well as the others, and especially the part with the slow paced Merry Minstrel and the power ballad Spread Your Wings in a row, simply because they lose some of the dynamic that this band is based on and makes the other song so intense and in your face. The only other point on the minus account is that there are a couple of bridges that might resemble each other just that bit too much to pass unnoticed.

Apart from the two minor flaws just mentioned, this is a great metal album that should speak to any appreciator of classy, energic and straight, well played metal with strong melodies and sing along potential.

See also review of: Walk The Earth , Infatuator

Production	Vocals	Compositions
8,5	8,5	8

Summary
8,5 chalices of 10 - Tommy