A Flame to the Ground Beneath

Sure, it’s been said below a few times already, but it’s worth repeating a thousand times over: this album represents the pinnacle of the power metal genre. All of the necessary ingredients came together – majestic guitar-playing, fine keyboard work, powerhouse drumming, and, most of all, some of the best singing the metal world’s ever witnessed. It is certainly doubtful that Lost Horizon can ever match this disc, especially without Daniel Heiman on board, but either way, 2003’s A Flame to the Ground Beneath is simply magical.

For starters, LH is a much more complete band with the additions of Fredrik Ollson as second guitarist and Attila Publik handling keys. Publik’s keys especially help coat the whole thing in a thick atmosphere that was somewhat missing on the debut. Call it cheesy if you will, but I really think the overall experience is greatly improved. The remaining members are all as good as you remember, likely even better. Wojtek Lisicki co-handles guitars wonderfully, and the man is simply a master songwriter (he wrote just about everything on here sans the instrumentals). Martin Furangen does an admirable job on bass, though as is often the case with power metal, he is slightly buried in the background. Finally, dummer Christian Nyquist likewise holds his own, as never once does this album even approach a simple double-bass fest. On their own, each member is incredibly talented; as a coherent unit Lost Horizon represents an entity that easily transcends the best this genre has to offer.

I’ll go ahead and dock a single point for having three of the nine tracks be instrumentals, with only one of those having any real value. That being said, the remaining six songs are sonic gold. “Pure” kicks things off in grand fashion with a terrific galloping intro, and is still probably my favorite song on the album. Really, any of these six songs is more than worth the price of admission alone, especially the epic “Highlander (The One)”.

As others have noted, the star of the show, beyond Lisicki’s songwriting prowess of course, is vocalist Daniel Heiman. One of the most powerful and commanding vocalists to ever hit the genre, Heiman has the range and talent needed to put this band over the top. Just listen to songs like the aforementioned “Highlander” and how his voice so easily shifts from low to high to mid-range, and so on, all sounding 100% natural. The funny things is, without Lisicki, Heiman has been rather average (Crystal Eyes, anyone?). Not sure why this exactly is, but something about the Heiman-Lisicki team brought out the best in both.

Compared to most power metal, this album might take a few listens to really sink in. With that in mind, give it a few tries if it doesn’t at once click for you. Lost Horizon has developed a sound that is at once uplifting yet filled with a certain sadness, a sound that towers over most of the generic singalong stuff that gives the genre such a bad rap. Catchy isn’t the operative word here, so don’t expect to be hooked immediately. If you absolutely hate power metal, chances are this disc won’t do anything for you. For anyone else, this one gets the absolute highest recommendation possible. For a taste of the best the power metal field has to offer, get this disc along with the Lost Horizon debut. For two mindblowing albums Lost Horizon ruled a genre, simultaneously making most other power metal discs seem plain bad in comparison.