As impressive as its albums of the late 1980s and early '90s were, never escaped from obscurity. The heavy metal outfit's inability to break through commercially may stem from the type of polarization that had come about in the headbanger world, which essentially was divided into two camps: thrash metal, and commercial hard rock and "pop-metal" a la , and . , which had a passionate female singer in and an impressive leader/guitarist in , fell into neither category. Comparable to boasts gothic-themed fantasy metal that is much slower than thrash but much heavier than . "Secrets of the Damned," "The Mountain Whispers" and "Not Much Breathing" are melodic, but they're also blistering and unapologetically intense. Fans of gothic metal should definitely make a point of searching for this excellent but overlooked CD. ~ Alex Henderson