Artist: ASTRALION
Album: ASTRALION (CD)

Year: 2014
Media type: CD

Twenty years ago, if you heard the name Finland, your mind conjured up feelings of cold and images of snow, reindeer and endless forests. Since then the Nordic country has become one of the heavy metal scene's leading suppliers. Despite the often great distances between towns in the land, musicians have always managed to find each other, get together and form new bands to realise their musical visions and thus enrich the scene. ASTRALION are no exception. Brought to life in a pub in southern Finland and firmly formed three years ago the band has needed only this short time to sign an international deal for their debut album. On their self-titled work, the lads deliver solid, melodic Power Metal marked by tight walls of guitars and great keyboard melodies. The motto of the band is very apt: "Forget the dragon, forget the sword, here's true power from the chord!"

The fact that ASTRALION comprises of former members of bands such as Olympos Mons, The Addication and HumanGod has the advantage that we have experienced musicians with a firm and clear target ahead of them. The musical direction of the Finns was influenced by bands such as Sonata Arctica, Thunderstone, Hammerfall, Stratovarius, early Blind Guardian and Y. Malmsteen. In a nutshell then we are talking about broad choruses, voluminous melodies, galloping guitar attacks as well as tactful, neo-progged 6-string inserts. Speed is an important characteristic of ASTRALION's style, similar to early Sonata Arctica work but with higher melodic content. Yet on the other hand you cannot miss a touch of Teutonic-Metal a la Helloween.

TRACKLIST:

01. Mysterious & Victorious 05:22
02. The Oracle 05:34
03. At The Edge Of The World 04:11
04. When Death Comes Knocking 04:32
05. We All Made Metal 05:41
06. Black Sails 05:36
07. To Isolde 05:26
08. Computerized Love 05:26
09. Mary (Bloody) 06:06
10. Five Fallen Angels 05:15
11. Last Man On Deck 13:16

BONUS VIDEO:
We All Made Metal 05:44

Total playing time without video 68:14

LINE-UP:

Hank J. Newman - Guitar
Arnold Hackman - Drums
Ian E. Highhill - Vocals
Thomas Henry - Keyboards
Dr. K. Lundell - Bass