A Flame to the Ground Beneath

Wow.

Just wow.

Daniel Heiman, if you could see what your departure has done to Lost Horizon fans, I'm sure you'd feel guilty. You broke up as close to perfection as power metal could ever get, and now you're in some crappy band with one of the other Lost Horizon guys, nowhere near as successful as you'd be if you were still with Lost Horizon.

LH's debut "Awakening the World" was a pretty adequately awesome album with crunchy guitars, uplifting choruses, and... really weird cover art... But "A Flame to the Ground Beneath" took everything from "Awakening," multiplied the awesomeness factor by 10, and added a tinge of prog to make one of the finest power metal albums--- well, metal albums in general--- of all time. A bold statement? Maybe. But let's take a look.

"Transdimensional Revelation" is an intro track. I usually hate these, but the mood-setting done here is amazing, with mysterious space-y sounds that leave you guessing what's gonna happen next. You might even turn up the volume a little bit to hear if there's something you're missing... Roughly two minutes later...

WHOA! The drums kick in as the intro segues into easily one of the most high-energy, rip-roaring, KICKASS songs ever! "Pure..." Words can scarcely describe this song adequately. The guitars sound amazing, and the keyboards hop in on the action without overshadowing everything else. Then that shriek comes in... Daniel Heiman! THE GOD HIMSELF!!! As with most of the other songs on the album, the lyrics revolve around self-empowerment, and enduring will, and being your own person, and all that jazz. But coming out of Daniel Heiman's mouth, it all sounds so orgasmic!!

After you catch your breath from all the awesomeness that just transpired, things slow down a little bit for the nearly 9-minute (!!) "Lost in the Depths of Me." The beginning kinda drags a bit (just over two minutes of near-wankery), but the rest of the song goes at the perfect speed to recuperate from "Pure."

"Again Will the Fire Burn" is the song most reminiscent of "Awakening the World," as being shorter than all the other songs with lyrics, and begins with an epic part whispered by Heiman (I'd go gay if I could have that part whispered by Daniel Heiman himself into my ear... Eh, bit of a stretch, but it's epic, nonetheless). The rest of the song carries on with more kickassery (it is SO a word!), and then we have...

"The Song of Earth." Like "The Song of Air" from "Awakening," it's a minute-long keyboard-driven composition. It's... nice. But... What's the point? What makes it so earthy? Likewise, what makes "The Song of Air" so airy? They actually both seem more suited for the opposite element; "Song of Air" for earth, "Song of Earth" for air. Myeh. I ain't Wojtec Lisicki (chief songwriter), so I ain't gonna argue.

"Cry of a Restless Soul" is another beastly long song (for your average listener) but cuts the "slow-it-down" BS from "Lost in the Depths of Me," and is pretty in-your-face, with a flurrying guitar, wind instrument section (whut? It sounds cool, though, seriously... They're actually on most of the songs), and some occasional sweet vocal harmonizing from Heiman.

"Think Not Forever" kicks it up even more, starting right off with a trademark Heiman scream, a nice, crunchy guitar riff, but keeps it very melodic, with an uplifting, epic, self-empowering chorus and a harmonious guitar solo. This is probably my 2nd- or 3rd-favorite song from the album. I dunno, this and the epic that follows are tied for 2nd. (though I do my best to make the epic sound as amazing as freakin' possible)

"Highlander (The One)"-- OH. MY. GOD. 12 minutes of pure EPIC ON A PLATTER. Amazing lyrics, Heiman's best vocal performance on the album (IMO), the instrumentalists in top form (just listen for all those drum fills!); I just wouldn't know what to cut from this 12-minute piece of near-perfection. 5:30 to 6:02 has to be one of the most uplifting moments in all of metal without it being too cheesy. Lost Horizon could not have ended an album any better.

Really makes ya wonder, how are they gonna top this? Well, it'll be a while before we find out... As mentioned earlier in this review, singer Daniel Heiman left along with one of the other guys. While Heiman isn't irreplaceable (they are currently looking), it's going to be hard not comparing whoever the new guy will be to Heiman. I mean, the guy's got a freakin' amazing voice! Heck, I bought Crystal Eyes' "Vengeance Descending" just to hear his amazing voice outside of LH! (I mean, the rest of that album was good, too, but I just about had a fanboy-gasm simply knowing he was on there! Even if it was just for one track!)

OH YEAH, ONE MORE TRACK! "Deliverance" is really just three minutes of... more spacey noises, much like the opening intro. It doesn't segue into anything awesome, so what's the point? Again, I'm not Wojtek Lisicki, so I ain't arguing. But I cannot tell you how often I sat through this track in hopes of something actually coming up at, like, the very end... Which is futile, since, ya know, THE CD IS PRESSED. NOTHING'S GONNA CHANGE, MORON. Regardless, any metal fan needs to pick up this CD, if just to hear what all the hype about Daniel Heiman is about.