Versed in power / melodic metal with epic theme song

Theocracy was founded by singer and guitarist Matt Smith in Georgia / USA as a one-man band. 2003 released their debut album on which everything came instrumental and vocal from him. Shortly thereafter, he reinforced with guitarist Jon Hinds and drummer Shawn Benson. What the American 'theocrats' set before us, is a decidedly melodic mix of speed and power metal with appetizers of Prog. It is striking thanks to the first two pieces of "A Tower Of Ashes" and "On Eagles' Wings" and Track number five, "Absolution Day", a straighte pace with epic speed metal tinged, somewhere in the interface between Helloween, Angra and Stratovarius. Technically sublime of all doubt here developed one way or another anthem for complacent catchy. But what my expectations diminish: Ironically, the welcome from the very first pieces falls but from quite interchangeable - this should be a young band that has something to prove, the handset even better, tear off your feet ...

Well good, evil is all even again, and also produces pretty good - and so will you weighed the work to third place with the Zehnminüter "Laying The Demon To Rest" finally going on the post! A healthy touch of compositional anarchy and a very bleak riffing - it has something of Beyond Twilight! A dynamic long track between crackling exciting and wild einherdreschenden passages, minute-long instrumental sections and a raised, anthemic chorus, in which a great strength of the band revealed: a distinctive, high, carried forward by really good voices choral singing with a touch of Circus Maximus. A big plus is also that of the song (finally) plenty of varied things in pace.

And if we're at the speed change ... in the mid-tempo Theocracy sound quite strongly: "The Writing In The Sand" is an upgraded of opulent choirs mid-tempo number - a kind of power metal ballad in the style of Masterplan , Primal Fear. And the playing time of almost seven time you can even room for one or the other varied B-Part, as well as the 7:39 minutes of "Martyr", the true-most metallic piece of the plate. Yes, as it sparkles quite steely - straight times (and yet appealing variation rich), sometimes in epic canon choirs.

Where is in many other plate Feierabend, here comes the same name, 23-minute peak only in "Mirror Of Souls". With the title track, the band revealed their full potential. Quiet acoustic guitars at the beginning proclaim the fact that there is something big - and so it is. Pretty soon pace, tension and hardness screws straight up - it develops an exciting puzzle of numerous heavy-metal set pieces and some unexpected U-turns in the voltage curve and on the speedometer. In ear remain primarily the anmutvollen now expected, majestic choral melodies. "Mirror Of Souls" is an epic Metal-long track, without being overly 'fascinating progressive' - he goes more in the direction of broad Maiden epics like "Dance Of Death", or half of the songs on "A Matter Of Life And Death ".

So: The guys from Theocracy 'compensate' with its mix of power, Melodic Speed ​​Metal and increasingly for the beginning of the album, which is actually not bad now, but might not suggest what is still everything follows. And one more delicacy's with the ballad "Bethlehem". Here the birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated - the most direct of numerous Christian references in the lyrics of the album. Pretty strong, this "Bethlehem", the very enchanting begins with two acoustic guitars and burst into a beautiful, high modulus at the end of power Chorus - a Hard & Heavy-Christmas song!