Necessary Wasted Time

Special edition with bonus tracks."At first, I was somewhat unsure what I was going to get when I was sent this promo. The name seemed to be an attempt at a funny pun on the name of a “Harry Potter” character from my childhood. Then I read the press release, and just who was involved and realised it was going to be something awesome. Featuring ex-HELLOWEEN member Roland Grapow on guitars, as well as Thomen Stauch, who used to be in BLIND GUARDIAN, amongst other particularly good musicians, I just knew it was going to be a power metal treat.The album opens up with “I Seek No Other Life” and we’re straight into awesome riff territory, and some fantastically delivered vocals from Urban Breed, combined with awesome riffs and a powerful rhythm section, further developed by some nice bombastic keyboard melodies from Jan Vacik (ex-DREAMSCAPE). This is followed by “High And Low” and this has an awesome main melody that meets perfectly with the powerful chorus as well. A nice sense of groove really moves this song along.Some nice piano melodies open up “Sealing My Fate” in a delicate fashion, with some equally soft vocals here, before the song slams into a nice heavy yet melodic riff. This song has a really nice powerful chorus, and some great playing throughout. “Temple Of The Sun” is an instrumental with a fitting melody considering the title, with a highly symphonic sound to it, which then slams into “Akhenaton”, which is of course thematically similar to its instrumental introduction. This one has a real STRATOVARIUS feel to it, with really good use of dynamics in amongst some fantastic musical moments.“My Mystic Mind” is a real hard hitting track with some great guitar melodies and some nice use of dynamics, clashing stabbing guitars with piano melodies in a really interesting way. “Trail Of Murder” is straight off the bat a fantastic song, with some great guitar riffs meeting some tasty melodies. Again, the strong sense of dynamics is at play here, with lots going on in the song.Title-track “As Daylight Breaks” is a softer track, mainly relying on symphony and vocals to carry the track, with some really well performed parts all around making this a nice emotional sounding track with plenty of build and atmosphere. “Setting Fire To The Earth” follows this up and this one feels like PRAYING MANTIS on steroids, with heavy riffs and some great lyrical themes and vocal harmonies colliding to form a great track.Penultimate track, “Listen To The Storm”, builds an aptly moody atmosphere to start off with, with thunderous sounds meeting some nice guitar parts. The song develops nicely as it goes, with a really nice catchy chorus!The album ends on “Older And Wiser” and this is a nice high energy power metal track to finish things off, with some nice virtuosic playing and a nice fast pace throughout. This closes the album on a real nice note, leaving you feel pumped up and ready for more.The production is spot on, everything has a nice sense of power to it when needed, and softer moments are also equally well done. All the different things that are going on are mixed nicely, from heavy guitars to the softest piano moments. The vocals are also really nicely done, and a heavy rhythm section sound really powers this album along.“As Daylight Breaks” is a must-have for fans of Power Metal the way it should be done, there’s heavy and melodic riffs, soaring vocals, and great songwriting throughout this mammoth of an album. Keep your eyes peeled for this in 2015." - Metal Temple

Bjorn Riis isn't exactly a household name but if you are a fan of the Norwegian band Airbag he's more familiar than you realize.  Riis is the band's lead guitarist.  For his debut solo album he's enlisted members of Airbag in all aspects of the production.  Riis himself says that the sound doesn't stray too far from Airbag but its a more personal affair.  This is pretty accurate.  Riis is an avowed disciple of David Gilmour.  In fact he set up a website dedicated to Gilmour and his iconic (and easily recognizable) guitar sound.Many aspects of Airbag's three albums owe a heavy debt to Pink Floyd and Riis' solo album fits neatly into the same box.  The album consists of six tracks - three of which run 10+ minutes.  The easiest and most concise way to describe "Lullabies" is that it sounds like a head on collision between Wish You Were Here and The Division Bell.  Nothing wrong with that!  BUY OR DIE! 

"Henry Fool's Men Singing is an ambitious four track instrumental album featuring members of No-Man, I Monster and Roxy Music. Equal parts dynamic drums, spiky guitars and atmospheric washes of fluttering flutes and vintage keyboards, the album was produced and arranged by Stephen Bennett (keyboards) and Tim Bowness (guitar), and mixed by Jarrod Gosling (I Monster/Regal Worm), who also contributes Mellotron, glockenspiel and artwork. Appearing on two of the four tracks, Phil Manzanera's legendary guitar skills can be heard in the context of long-form instrumental music for the first time since his celebrated stint in 1970s mavericks Quiet Sun. Other contributions come from Peter Chilvers (bass), Michael Bearpark (guitar), Andrew Booker (drums), Myke Clifford (sax/flute) and violinist Steve Bingham. A vibrant and instinctive contemporary take on Progressive, Psychedelic and Jazz Rock styles, Men Singing is available as a limited edition cd in vinyl replica artwork. Mastered by Pink Floyd sound engineer, Andy Jackson."

Ninth album from this Swedish band.  Katatonia's music shares a kindred spirit with that of Opeth and Tool.  Very much emotion driven with a dark vibe through out.  It doesn't come more melancholy than this one... "Despite being into their third decade, gloomy Swedish progressive metallers Katatonia are still producing fine work. 2009’s Night Is the New Day was heralded as the band’s finest ever album, and with prog’s increasing influence evident across the more facile end of the metal spectrum, this band is doing better than ever. Dead End Kings marks another progression for this outfit – in terms of album structure, anyway. While their previous effort was a sumptuous effort with a sum greater than its parts, this ninth album is a collection of fantastic, searching songs that stand alone as well as they do together. It’s still completely and utterly miserable, though… so very, very miserable. The cellos in opening track The Parting add solemn layers to music that is already laden with sorrow and introspection. It’s a multifarious affair from then on in. The slightly sinister Hypnone adds strength before the album succumbs to the mellow, emotive The Racing Heart. Buildings is the most resolutely metal track here. Its humungous riffs are positioned at exactly the moment where the listener may have been lulled into a false sense of security, bludgeoning guitars swelling the song’s belly with a fiercely charged beauty. There are other moments of grandiose, majestic beauty breaking up the murkiness, but Buildings is the only piece of metal you’re going to get.Dead Letters is massively reminiscent of Tool – and while the American prog-grungers remain at work on their overdue fifth LP, it’s a very welcome sound. It doesn’t last though. As with everything Katatonia do, the song wanders off into another direction, atmospheric moments splintering into sparse orchestration, Jonas Renkse’s murmured voice flying across the top throughout. <br><br>The closer is certainly the finest standalone song here, bringing Dead End Kings to a glorious and complex end. There’s no grand climax. It just fades to dust, allowing you to reflect upon yet another excellent album from Katatonia." - BBC

"Machine Head's third album finds them sounding a bit looser and less constricted musically than they have in the past, but their aggro-metal with funk overtones is still plenty dense and emotionally claustrophobic. Aided by modern metal producer extraordinaire Ross Robinson (who has also helped Korn and Limp Bizkit get in touch with their inner Lemmy), Machine Head continues to explore themes of alienation, loss, and abuse, but singer/guitarist Robert Flynn is singing a bit more this time out; on "Silver" he almost croons. Unfortunately, while his up-tempo bellow is pleasantly generic, his singing voice and delivery both sound like they were lifted directly from middle-period Eddie Vedder. Flynn and the rest of the band are actually at their best in funky, hip-hop mode, as on "Enter the Phoenix" and the early section of "From This Day." Amazingly, they also deliver a respectful cover of the Police's "Message in a Bottle," one which, disappointingly, adds little more than crunchy guitars to the mix. Overall, though, this is a pretty satisfying aggro-rock affair." - Allmusic Guide

Lance King is out...replaced by Iced Earth's Matt Barlow."Formed in 2001, Danish power metal band Pyramaze has managed to maintain a fairly steady line up. However, there have been several recent changes to the vocalist position. After releasing two albums with Pyramaze, 2004's "Melancholy Beast" and 2006's "Legend of the Bone Carver," vocalist Lance King decided to step down. Pyramaze would find a surprising replacement in Matt Barlow, who stepped down from American power metal giant Iced Earth in 2001 to pursue a career in law enforcement. However, Barlow's stay in Pyramaze would be brief, as he was only used to record vocals on "Immortal" before reuniting with Iced Earth. Urban Breed is now the current vocalist for Pyramaze."Immortal" has a predictable, but interesting theme. Each song depicts a different form of immortality. Including the recount of the 300 Spartans gaining immortality both historically and mythologically during their legendary last stand at the battle of Thermopolea, to the horror of not being able to escape from a nightmare and a ghost that wanders for eternity. The theme also covers emotional subjects such as finding peace via suicide to suffering in hell and the never ending battle against the demons that plague us everyday. Though immortality has become a cliche in the power metal subgenre, Pyramaze has shown how diverse the theme of immortality can be.Stylistically, "Immortal" is intended to be a power metal epic, and it delivers. The main influences seem to be Iron Maiden and Iced Earth's "Horror Show" and are dominating throughout. Other influences that appear are the Kamelot inspired piano ballad "Legacy in Rhyme," the Children of Bodom keyboard tone and riff in "Ghost Light" and the King Diamond influenced "Touched by the Mara." Symphonic elements give the album a very epic sense. The opening track "Arise" and the closing track "March through an Endless Rain" sound like they could have come from the "Gladiator" or "300" movie soundtracks.The music on "Immortal" is quality symphonic power metal. Guitarist and mastermind Michael Kammeyer puts in an excellent performance with Matt Barlow showing that he hasn't lost a step and delivering a stand out performance. However, the use of some cheesy Dragonforce-esque guitar effects for a few solos along with some cheesy vocal melodies and overly simplistic riffs are my biggest criticism of the album. However, these complaints are nothing new, as every Pyramaze album to date has incorporated those elements. Even so, the cheesy elements are only a small portion of the album and don't take away from the overall epic feel. Overall, "Immortal" is a positive step for Pyramaze." - Metal Underground