Febris Erotica

This EP is just fucking incredible. This is the Russian answer to Painkiller. Really. The vocalist on this album sounds as much like Rob Halford as anyone I've ever heard. More so than Tim Owens - far more so than that Scheepers dude. And the guitar work is really fucking heavy, and fast, and yes, you expect them to burst out with FASTERTHANABULLET!!! at any point.

Though, it's not entirely Painkiller-like. There are some far more progressive moments, where the guitars go on for like 6 minutes (as opposed to merely 3 minutes) and there is far more intensive use of keyboards. So this isn't as much a speed metal album as a really fucking heavy power metal album that happens to be fast most of the time.

We start with "Silentium", which is an introduction bit that leads us straight into the title track. This is total fucking speed metal mayhem, with some of the greatest guitar work ever seen. "Towards the Acme" is a bit more sedated, and more power-metalish. This wouldn't look out of place on a Stratovarius album, if Stratovarius grew a big set of testicles and put the guitars frontward in the mix, and their vocalist didn't sound like a wimp. And didn't altogether suck. Yeah.

Then, Taedium Vitae (in two parts) closes off the album in shredding fashion - this is progressive power metal that manages to remain highly interesting and highly excellent. This is one of the finest albums ever to come out of Russia. Extremely recommended.