Awakening

What is going on with you people? Have you found the bottomless well of inspiration or has a good fairy enchanted you with her magic wand? I was waiting with great expectation the next strike from Wardrum, though I must admit I didn't believe they could reach the high standards they have set with Messenger. Still, there they are, producing another top heavy metal album, full of anthemic songs, which keep the flame alive.

For the first time in their career, Wardrum made a 3 - year interval between two albums, after the back to back releases of Spadework, Desolation, and Messenger. Meanwhile, they added a second guitarist, J. Demian (Hail Spirit Noir), as a permanent member, both for studio and live performances. These changes gave a new boost to the band and helped them to write yet another masterpiece, maintaining their position among the top power metal bands of today.

Once more, Papadopoulos is astonishing. His powerful and beautiful voice upgrades each track from the level of a great song to that of a power metal hymn. He manages to be equally good at both the high and the low notes. Meanwhile, axeman Costa Vreto produces a stunning performance, offering excellent shredding without using a pick and showing what means terrific metal guitar playing. Thanks to the backing up from J. Demian, the new rhythm guitarist, Vreto manages to improve the quality of his work and give some astonishing guitaristic moments, including several of his special - I'm going to leave you with the mouth open - leads. Finally, Kourou (drums) and Scandalis (bass) give a fair example of a technical and sturdy rhythm section.

Kourou and Vreto are responsible for the music of these twelve magnificent compositions, transferring us from dynamic power metal fields to emotional soundscapes, and back again. Lyrics, written by Kourou exclusively, are mostly optimistic, few times pessimistic, but always experiential, and for that reason closer to the heart of the sensitive listener. Production maintains the high standards of Wardrum's previous albums, but I believe that there is an obvious improvement in the artwork and layout of the album, which, in my opinion, is the best they had so far.

It is true that Awakening does not invent the wheel. Despite that, Wardrum managed to merge their influences from classic U.S. power metal bands, such as Crimson Glory, with Judas Priest, especially of Painkiller-era, and created twelve magnificent songs, full of sing-along choruses, memorable riffs, and extraordinary leads. The Unrepentant, Right Within Your Heart, Let the Flames Grow, Sometimes, Medusa, On Skies of Grey, Baptized in Fire, Shade of Hope, Dreams in the Dark are songs, which many bands would kill to include, even one of them, in their albums. This is a monumental album and everyone who loves metal music should listen to it now.