Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge fan of the Denmark based band EVIL MASQUERADE, formed by and around bandleader Henrik Flyman.
‘Fade to Black’ is the title of the band’s 4th release, and I was very eager to pick this one up, so I could compare it to their fantastic first 3 albums; ‘Welcome to the Show’ (2004), ‘Theatrical Madness’ (2005) and ‘Third Act’ (2006). So here’s the big question: - Is ‘Fade to Black’ just as good as the first 3 albums? The answer is: -Yes... by golly it is.
Guitarist Henrik Flyman, singer Apollo Papathansio (Firewind), bass player Johan Niemann (Therion) and drummer Daniel Flores (Mind’s Eye) really delivers the goods here. From the opening threat of the very first song, “Lights Out”, which grabs you by the throat and slams you up against the nearest wall, to the very last breath of the last song, “I Believe in Sin”, EVIL MASQUERADE entertains you without losing their breath one single time.
Sound and style wise EVIL MASQUERADE still sounds like... EVIL MASQUERADE with a touch of both DIO and RAINBOW. We get both slow/mid tempo and up tempo songs with razor sharp, yet heavy riffs and one catchy chorus after another. But well... the names of the musicians speak for themselves, right.
Everything on ‘Fade to Black’ is written and produced by Henrik Flyman himself and there’s no doubt that he’s a very talented musician... and producer.
I’m sure that each and every fan of this band will love this release just as much as they love and adore the band’s first 3 releases. But well... every fan of catchy heavy metal should at least check this album and this band out now.
Good buy :)
