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Not
in a million years would I have thought that Astral Doors was able to
surpass their last album "Evil is Forever" this much. Not only
is this album better in every aspect, it is a huge step forward and to
date their most mature album.
Astral
Doors do still wear their influences on the outside, old school classic heavy metal with roots in Dio, Rainbow and Black Sabbath. Ever
tried to imagine how the 3rd album from Dio would have sounded hadn't he
chosen a more commercial sound? Well without knowing, something like
this album is a pretty good guess...
Traditional
Hammond
organ sounds, outstanding vocal acrobatics from Nils Patrick Johansson
and a rock solid rhythm section lays the foundations. But the biggest
improvement has to be in the guitar department, excellent riffs and some
of the coolest twin and single leads I've heard for some time.
An
album packed with excellent traditional metal, a production that fits
the music like a hand in a glove and another outstanding artwork from
Mattias Norén - what more can you ask for in a metal album?
The bricks are in place, this album has all the
qualities to take Astral Doors even further up the latter and I can only
strongly recommend this outstanding album to all metal fans out there!
Recommended
tracks: All of them, there not a single bad note on this album!
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