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Secret Sphere > Mistress of the Shadowlight > Reviews > Charlo
Secret Sphere - Mistress of the Shadowlight

When Secret Sphere Was Good - 85%

Charlo, May 18th, 2013

Secret Sphere is one of those second-tier Italian power metal bands that you never hear about. Despite their expansive discography (seven albums at the time of this writing), they've never really caught on except among diehard Italophiles. I can see why - pick a random song from their library of tunes and you're just as likely to strike a fetid power ballad or uninspiring hard-rock experiment as you are a 1000-MPH power metal demolition derby.

This debut effort is the only Secret Sphere album that I would confidently label as "symphonic power metal". Their later albums display amounts of keyboard usage typical for a power metal band, but on Mistress of the Shadowlight, keyboards play a more prominent part. This is most clearly evidenced by a plethora of classically-influenced symphonic breaks which are strewn throughout the runtime of the disc. And unlike any other of the band's albums, the solos and melodies here are strongly neoclassical in flavor, something that Secret Sphere has totally abandoned. Why do power metal bands always forsake the best elements of their sound?

Released in 1999 as the band's first serious recording effort, you might be able to foresee the production issues that hamper my enjoyment of this album. The guitars are thin, rendering otherwise decent riffs totally impotent. The keyboards are thin as well, obscuring the good ideas present in their composition. There is no low end, so the bass kind of just twangs helplessly in the background. The only adequately-produced instrument is the drums; the bass drum is punchy (almost triggered-sounding) and the snare drum is properly loud, cutting through everything else to provide a strong beat.

Vocalist Ramon Messina takes a more straightforward vocal approach on these songs than he does later in his career, when he, judging by the disturbing amounts of crooning and wailing that slipped into his delivery, took a second job moonlighting as a singer of sappy love songs. Ramon's accent and style is unlike any other singer I've heard, so he is instantly recognizable, and I consider this performance to be one of the high points of his career. Most outsiders to the genre would consider Ramon another pin-dick power metal pansy, and I guess he is, but he's not any wimpier than the average power metal vocalist. He was probably the one member of the band that made Secret Sphere what they are, so now that he's out of the band, there's something missing.

Of course, if he's the one that pushed the band into writing that "Oooh baby I love you so much, here let me cut my wrists and we can blood-swap, you are my sexy demoness" crap which plagued their later output, I say good riddance. The lyrics here are fairly lame (RECALL OF THE VALKEEEEEEEEERIAAAAAA, FROM MIGHTY WORLD OF SKIES) but at least they don't put a permanent cringe on my face, and sometimes I even crack a grin when my ears are graced by such earnest hilarity.

The highlight of this album, with no doubt, is the songwriting. You could listen to the band's entire recorded output several times over and not find as solid a collection of songs as this. You would not even come close. The followup to this album, A Time Nevercome, is better-produced and features nearly-comparable songwriting, but every album past that point is just a shadow of those first two glorious releases. This is Secret Sphere without the taint of experimentation; in 1999, they played symphonic power metal, and only symphonic power metal. If it's not a ballad, it's played fast, and with a lot of solos of both the keyboard and guitar variety. There are little solo-like leads before the verses, during the verses, after the verses, any time the band felt like it, because at this point in power metal's evolution, that is what you did. The riffs are fast, there are no breakdowns, there are no chugs, and they understood that nobody listens to this style of music because they want to throw down to some heavy riffs, so it works perfectly.

There are no glaring flaws with this album other than the flat production. This is probably the only time that I wish a band would do a re-recording, because these songs would become so much more awesome with some meatier guitars and clearer keyboards. One other complaint I have is that the second half of the album lacks pretty heavily compared to the first half. This is explained by the fact that all the dick-shrinking ballads are bunched up in the last five songs, whereas the first three songs after the intro will just violently punch your nads with power metal majesty. However, even the ballads on this album are listenable (which cannot be said for Secret Sphere's later ballad attempts). If you enjoy power metal of Italian origin, this is a plentiful serving of melodic goodness which will sate even the most voracious appetite. For all others, this is a good introduction to the expansive and enlightening world of underground late-90's power metal.

Just don't expect to bang your head too much.