I'll be honest. I heard someone praise this band and call them "power metal with brutal vocals", and felt an immediate need to acquire the album for the sole purpose of tearing into it.
Yes, I was correct in my preemptive summation of "melodeath with annoying synths"... but only to an extent. Musically, this band is quite a bit catchier than some of their competition. Guitarwork sounds heavily inspired by (read: stolen from) Children of Bodom, Helloween and, occasionally, Billy Idol. The Helloween influence does seem to make this a tad more upbeat and "metal" than the majority, with the occasional almost soaring guitar lead. Yes, the generic solos abound, and as seems to always be the case with bands like these, are mirrored by synths. The synths, though not riding the pitch bender constantly, are still pretty annoying at times. The obviously triggered drums are another thing I take issue with. If you can't play the part, don't try.
For the most part, the first half of the album was pretty much straightforward Bodom worship. I was unimpressed and about ready to disregard this band as being yet another crappy clone. The song "Hollow Man" broke the monotony of the album with both a much slower riff and clean vocals reminiscent of Axenstar. I found that this song was a pretty decent... and a needed moment of respite. A couple tracks later, the one titled "Shadowsouls", almost the entire song was done by some woman that sounds like she's putting forth no effort whatsoever, akin to Cruachan. The music had almost a folky power metal sound to it and sort of reminded me of Tuatha de Danann or Elvenking... and I genuinely enjoyed it. If the entire album was of the style exhibited in these two songs, I would order it, a pack of stickers and a shirt right now. It seriously kicks that much ass. Sadly, it went back to the Bodom fluffing after that.
Is the album overall good? No, not really. Does it suck as bad as the rest of the garbage in the genre? No... it doesn't. The few moments that break the monotony and the glaring Helloween influence aren't quite enough to redeem this album, but they do hint at what this band's capable of if they can escape the Children of Bodom mold.