Memoirs of a Broken Man

Power Metal. I should confess now that I find the particular genre a bit tiring even when it comes to legendary albums like Gamma Ray’s “Land of the free”. I really liked it when it came out but I can stand it anymore.

Progressive. A characterization which includes almost infinite music variables resulting to confusion when used without any specifications and even then it holds a lot of discussion.

Well the debut album of “Future’s End” is POWER METAL and undoubtedly progressive. In the midst of ‘good’, ‘decent’, ‘promising’ and other polishing descriptions for mediocre (at best) releases, they stand alone like the One-eyed King among the blindness of the pseudo-leaders of the stage.

The value of “Memoirs of a Broken Man” is that restores at some point the lost faith of a large piece of the fan’s base of the genre who were left defenseless in the whims of the “big names” giving them anniversary albums and “back to the roots” remarks for uninspired rehash.

While Future’s End with their delightful guitar complexicity of Christian Wentz (Circle II Circle) and Marc Pattison, and astonishing rhythm harmonization of Steve DiGiorgio and Jon Allen, deliver stabbing punches to your gut, they are also blessed with the technically sweet voice of Fred Marshall. Of course some influences make their appearance here and there, some Maiden, Dream Theater and even traces of Testament!! But overall they stand by their own strength with beautiful ideas, exceptional song writing and guitar lines from the heavens.

Songs that burn to your psyche like “Forsaken”, “Relentless Chaos” and “Terrors of War” are some of the jewels of this crown of an album. Keep in mind that this is a case of a future classic that consists a flawless debut and a nearly flawless album in general (the cover of “Powerslave” was unnecessary). Dig In.