'Tales of Tragedy' is the second album from Winter's Verge. This band hails from Cyprus, not a country that is known by its many metal bands. In 2008 they released their debut called 'Eternal Damnation', not a bad album, but in my opinion not a real hammer either. But they got the attention of Massacre Records and through that label here is the new album.
Compared to their debut not that much has changed. They still play power metal with some progressive elements and more darker epic parts. Again R.D. Liapakis (Mystic Prophecy) signed up for the production and has done a good job. You can hear some progress in the song writing and there is enough variety in the separate songs as well. The songs vary from fast/speedy tracks to more mid-tempo and epic ones. With the ballad "For those Who are Gone" they serve us a softer song too. The singing in the ballad is not that good, sometimes even a bit false. On the other tracks the singing of George Charalambous is o.k., but very average, not a real top one in the power metal genre.
To make some songs sound heavier or darker we hear grunting vocals as for example in "I Swear Revenge". Musically every member knows all the answers and that makes this a nice power metal album, but it isn't an album we will be talking about all year. An average album for fans of Helloween, Kamelot, Sabaton, Stratovarius and everything in between. Best song is the epic track "Reflections of the Past", a threatening song with variety in tempo and nice heavy riffs. Power metal fans might want to take a listen!
