Once I was browsing the pages of my favourite metal webzine (actually I wanted to say my second favourite after Metalzone :-)) and I came across a review of an album from the Soulitude project (guitarist Devo from Spanish power metal act is behind all the music). Power metal isn't really a genre I would particularly like(on the other hand I don't really have a problem listening to it), but the reviewer was totally carried away by the music, so I just couldn't resist listening to it, too. Now I understand why was he so blown away :-)

The album is taken as a conceptual album ... enslavement of human races by a space invaders Crawlians and the consequent rebellion and the way to liberation ... both the lyrics and the music quite well depict this image.

But now let's look at the music itself. Intro doesn't really surprise us with anything exceptional, but nor it bothers us and it's quite well escalated. After the first regular song comes – Enslaved. What an opener it is. Catchy fresh riffs, power metal chorus as it should be (nor Gamma Ray would have to be ashamed if they used it in their songs) ... great piece of music! Likewise with the second song – Menace O The Universe. One catchy riff comes after another, good chorus. Well, I could continue writing in that way about the rest of the album. Every song contains everything you like about power/speed metal, but at the same time it's spiced up by thrash metal and black metal elements. There is also room for experimenting, for example Viking Pride ... powermetal attempt to play something in the vein of viking metal ... Dunes of Mub Arass with oriental keyboards ... instrumental Solar Ghosts ... everything greatly listenable. Every song is different, exceptional and when there is a passage which rather bores, another superb one follows soon. As I hinted before, the album is quite varied and the fact that whole bunch of singers from a multitude of bands contributed with their voices, takes care of the variability, too. You'll hear everything from a murmur to female vocals. The vocals are sometimes a bit suppressed by the instruments, but it's no big thing.

There is nothing to complain about thinking of the composing side and in fact there is not really anything to complain about :-) Nice display of how to spice up well-established power/speed metal methods and create something exceptional. Intentionally I didn't mention another thing which makes this album so great. It's offered free to download with the cover, booklet, lyrics and it's all nicely tagged (what a service). Below you can see the link to the bands site, where the album is to be found in the Discography section. Click, download ... something that good you usually don't get even if you pay for it!