CELESTY

"Reigh Of Elements"
(SPV/Arise Records )

This band, hailing from Finland, play melodic, European style power metal, in the vein of Helloween , Stratovarius, and even a bit of Pretty Maids. They are quite a good band, their music going full speed ahead all the way (except for one ballad, "Kingdom", the album's closing track), charging like King Arthur's knights riding into battle! The proper opening track, "Charge", is well named, as it is the fastest song on the album! Other noteworthy tunes are "Revenge", "Sword Of Salvation", the title track, "The Sword And The Shield", and the aforementioned ballad, "Kingdom", which is quite a beautiful piece of work. These guys do have talent. Singer Kimmo Peramaki has a strong and clear voice, similar to Michael Kiske or Hammerfall's Joacim Cans. Guitarists JP Alanen and Tapani Kangas offer a classic style dual axe team, and do a pretty damn good job at it, cranking out speedy riffs and hot solos. Keyboards are used quite heavily on this album, courtesy of Juha Maepaa. His keyboards are given a "front seat" on most of the songs, but at the same time, they don't over saturate the music, which is often a risk when a keyboard player is used in a metal band. He is a good keysman, his playing classically influenced and really soaring in places. His style actually reminded me a little of Gregg Giuffria's playing (the legendary keysman from Angel and Giuffria). There is also a lot of high speed, double bass drumming used, by drummer Jere Luokkamaki, another thing commonly used in power metal these days. These guys are not doing anything really new, but they are very good at what they do nonetheless. They are a talented band who have turned out a good, solid power metal album here, with well written songs and all the right elements (so to speak), and that's good enough for me! http://www.arisemetal.com

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