HARDWARES

This EP has “Euro” written all over it, what with the sprawling progressive power metal it contains, as well as involvement from a personal mentorship from HAMMERFALL’s Joacim Cans. But, lo and behold, this band is from the States, and feature FATES WARNING player Mark Zonder on drums, and they really impress with this debut. The production is solid, loud and proud, the drums in particular shining through clearly, the riffs thick and chunky. The songs are great if you like a bit of pomp and flair in yer metal meal: musically, it’s like a more frilly-shirt version of INTO ETERNITY, with those kinda grim GAMMA RAY power vocals (and by that I mean the vocals are a tad weak here). While there is an over-the-top factor (like the chorus of ‘Oblivion’), the shredding parts are so shredding you can chalk that up to debut-release excitement. With a finer ear to getting rid of some of the melodic overload and a bit more work in the vocal department, we could be talking major players here.