The second album by former guitarist , following 2008's , offers another thundering dose of power metal of more or less the same type his former bandmates used to make, minus the pompous epics that have clogged their latter-day (i.e. after he quit the band) work. This shouldn't come as a surprise, since the band he's using (vocalist/guitarist , bassist , and drummer ) were a cover band in their native Germany before being recruited to back him at a festival. So they've got the anthemic, screaming-guitars sound down to a T, and ' brutarian, rock-informed leads (which gave 's first six albums a bite that their later albums, which stole more from classical music, lacked) cut through everything like a pavement saw. This is fist-pumping metal, with catchy choruses, high-pitched screams, and thunderous drumming, and the lightning-speed riffing of the title track is proto-thrash not unlike 's or early-'80s at their most hell-for-leather. Old-school metal fans will find much to love here, and younger listeners could learn a lot about the genre's roots, and its true heart, from and band. ~ Phil Freeman