Tales of Ancient Prophecies

I first came across Twilight Force when ordering a CD of Stratovarius's "Twilight Time" (also a magical album). In the list of things people have also bought was "Tales Of Ancient Prophecies". I was immediately interested and listened to it. Every big power metal fan has definitely heard of Twilight Force by now. I predict that once all of the old legends that made power metal great like Helloween, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, Helstar, Manowar, Yngwie, Iced Earth, Rhapsody, Hammerfall, etc, retire and die off, Twilight Force will be amongst the top bands, just behind Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica, that will continue power metal. I know Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica are already legends like the bands listed above, but they aren't that old and will still be around by the time guys like Helloween and Blind Guardian retire.

This fairly new power metal band, Twilight Force, is a lot like Dragonforce in it's fantastical sound and theme and great playing abilities. Both of them were new bands that suddenly came out and played as good as the "greats". Both have immediately noticeable and impressive guitar work. The guitarist of Twilight Force's style is reminiscent of Michael Romeo from Symphony X. He does a lot of his techniques and licks, everything from the tapping to the 7-note descending patterns. If you are wondering what I'm talking about, just go watch Michael Romeo's "Guitar Chapter" instructional from Young Guitar.

And how can I forget the vocals. 99% of the time, the guitar part and guitarists are my favorite part of a power metal album, but this time, my favorite musician on "Tales Of Ancient Prophecies" is the vocalist. The vocalist of Twilight Force is awesome at singing to put it lightly. I'm going to have to edit my top 10 power metal vocalists list. He regularly hits the notes in the high range and it's very impressive. In "Twilight Horizon", the vocalist hits a high B! That's insane. To put that in to perspective, the famous high note at the end of "Abigail" by King Diamond is a high G#, 3 half steps below the note the high B in "Twilight Horizon". While extremely impressive, I'm questioning whether it made the song great or took from it. What I'm questioning is when they put that note in and how they did it and how the melody plays out. It was a little... overkill. A little unsure what they were going for there. OOO, speaking of Overkill (I don't mean to get off topic, but trust me, this has to do with the album), there's a song from Overkill called "Wish You Were Dead", which has a high note at the beginning that is the same note as the one hit in "Twilight Horizon", just to give you an idea of what it sounds like.

Probably the best song off of "Tales Of Ancient Prophecies", also their most popular, is "The Power Of The Ancient Force". Sounds a little stereotypical of power metal by the title, but I guarantee you, the playing in that song is phenomenal. Despite how cliche it may sound in the title, it's better from what you might hear from typical power metal. It certainly has a lot stereotypes you might think of power metal, but they do it good and differently. We've all heard the typical trem picking during the verse with the Deep Purple/Rainbow drum beat or the double bass pattern following that of guitar and the vocals does its thing. Then the chorus comes and the guitar(s) just let the power chords ring out while the vocalist sings something a little slower and holds out the last note. That stuff has its place, but it's overdone and not all that original. Yeah, Twilight Force changes that up a bit. The vocal melodies from Twilight Force during the verses of each song seem carefully composed and practiced to the point where each one sounds majestic. You would probably shed a tear upon hearing the first verse of "The Power Of The Ancient Force". The originality of "Tales Of Ancient Prophecies" definitely gives at least 50% out of 100 so far automatically.

In closing, "Tales Of Ancient Prophecies" is among my top 50 favorite power metal albums. I wouldn't put it in the top 50 greatest power metal albums of all time though, but every power metal fan should absolutely listen to this. The skill and talent displayed on this album should not go unnoticed. Want to get deeper in to power metal? Welcome to Twilight Force.