This
is my first acquaintance (as far as I know) with Slovakia's powermetal combo
Signum Regis. Their album 'Exodus' (indeed based on the bible) was recorded with
known singers of other bands. On this EP new singer Mayo Petranin is present and
I quess that this is his first recording with the band. He hasn't got the
typical clean power metal sound, but has a kind of hoarse/raspy timbre in his
voice like for example Joakim Brodén (Sabaton). I think it sticks to the music
although he isn't perhaps the best vocalist in the genre.
The music is well perfomed power metal with enough melody and
nice refrains. Nevertheless not special enough in my opinion to really stick out
in the overcrowded scene. "Living Well" is a good opener and the heavy riff in
the second track saves that song. "My Guide in the Night" is a rather happy
sounding song with a contagious melody, but the fourth track is just an average
track. Fortunately this is compensated by the fifth song, a fast track with an
excellent guitar solo. That Filip Kolus knows wat he is doing is underlined in
the Yngwie cover "Vengeance/Liar", which is the song "Vengeance" with a guitar
solo part of the track "Liar", but a lot of Yngwie soli look a like each other,
so I could be wrong on that part.
This EP is the wake up call for their next full length album and
the 4 new songs ("All Over the World" is a re-recording) should make that
happen.
