Review by Chris Pratl on May 13, 2018.

I remember hearing Sign of the Jackal way back when they were on the impressive, albeit sadly short-lived label Heavy Artillery, and I recall being most impressed by this Italian quintet. That said, like the aforementioned record label they first emerged on, they disappeared for the last five years after they produced 2013's Mark of the Beast. The short time away hasn't cost them any steps, as this latest effort, Breaking the Spell, is pretty damn solid all over.

The familiar old sound of traditional heavy metal style is what you'll hear on any offering from these guys (and impressive lady handling the vocals), so if you're a fan of Acid, early Lee Aaron, Sentinel Steel or Warlock your comfort zone won't be at all disrupted. Singer Laura Coller has the pipes to resonate perfectly long after the music has stopped; comparisons abound, she manages to shirk the tags and set herself apart from the myriad of females wailing operatically and trying desperately to hold on to that mundane symphonic metal that's still on life support despite all efforts to make it go away. This is what a real woman rocker sounds like when she's showing the boys around her that gender roles don't apply to her in any capacity. Without overdoing her range or expanding her abilities past their natural capabilities, Coller lets loose and drives the metal home with amazing  precision. She's the real deal!

The battery of Sign of the Jackal is a fresh take on an archaic, yet viable style still holding its own amid a sea of sub-genres within genres. These tracks showcase every single bit of 80's metal, a genre making a slow and steady “comeback” in the face of  the wonderful deaths of nu-metal and mallcore.  While some bands tend to just follow a blueprint leftover from bands like Holy Moses or Znowhite, Sign of the Jackal casts off stale comparisons and just settles into a groove of finely-crafted metal  that, at times, finds just enough speedy interjection to jar the senses back to a time when bands weren't so concerned with genres, tags, fitting into a mold, or appearances; SotJ is a nice spin on a classic sound. The guitars hit every nerve of power chord utopia, and the bass is heavy and fills that bottom end nicely. Further on that point, the production is really crisp and vibrant without a single trace of thin trailing or muddy overwork anywhere to be found.

Standout tracks include “Night Curse,” “Beyond the Door,” and “Nightmare,” but there's no real filler here, which is rare because usually at least one or two tracks tend to be “tag-ons” during the final touches of an album release. Nothing here can be construed as wasted time, and it's really nice to see this band that had a really killer start emerging from the dust to produce another quality product.

I think it's time to dig out my old CD's and 7” single for some reacquainting time tonight...only to eventually add this newest effort to my library, as all of you should do as well! 

Rating: 9 out of 10

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Review by Adam M on October 20, 2012.

This record is very reminiscent of the classics of the downtrodden Doom such as Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus. The same plodding riffs and Ozzy or Wino style vocals are present and the song-writing of this band is quite solid as well. The traditional nature of the album makes it great for an accessible listen that will appeal to many different fans of the older style of metal.

'Mr. Haze' shows an interesting nature for Witchcraft with some added acoustic guitars. The mood of the album is laid back, but also doomy creating a feeling of darkness, but at the same time restrained warmth. It’s not as stellar in quality as the early Black Sabbath or Candlemass records, for example, but there are still many quality moments to be found throughout the length of this material. Fans of this style will be satisfied with the riffs and atmosphere of the album, but there isn’t anything particularly original to be found here either. Overall, the pacing and song-writing is about as tight as necessary for this type of a work. The songs flow well together and groove nicely as individual pieces as well. The pitch of the singer is very interesting and fits the doomy nature of the songs well throughout the entire work. There is enough variation, but it’s pretty standard in sound through and through.

Fans of the Doom style will definitely be interested in checking out "Firewood" as it is one that will fill their need for the classic interpretation of the style in particular.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8.5
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 8.5
Originality: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Adam M on November 21, 2025.

This is the sequel to the classic that is very catchy and filled with memorable songs like “Dr. Stein”.  This is more streamlined than the predecessor and perhaps has a more accessible sound to it.  The vocals are nicely placed on top o f melodic guitar work to make for an exciting listen.  There is very little to dislike as the album is very effective and one of the better power metal albums to be found. 

The musicianship on this album is quite breathtaking to listen with scorching guitars and really high pitched vocals.  This is one of the more addictive albums of the style.  It was an effective and one of a kind.  There is a very vibrant style here and it is quite wonderful to behold.  The production is pretty good.  There is not much to dislike about the instrumentation.

The fault with the album lies in how more interesting music was already created on the last work.  There is not anything that wasn’t already done particularly well on the previous album and this lead s to the work being somewhat redundant.  This is still an exciting album that is really revolutionary along with its predecessor.

All in all, this is a v ery great album that is one of the premier releases of the genre and very entertaining.  It is quite fantastical and pleasing in its approach.  There plenty to get worth listening and the album is very catchy and one of a kind.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Chad on January 14, 2020.

In my quest to find European power metal that doesn't suck in my younger years in the early to mid-2000's (hey, let's face it, there's a lot of wimpy power metal out there) I would come across band after band that I personally just didn't care for, Dragonforce hadn't quite broken out just yet with "Inhuman Rampage" re-igniting the younger crowd's interest in the genre, but I was still fortunate enough to dig up and listen to snippets of bands such as Rhapsody, Hammerfall, and Blind Guardian... none of which would I have chosen to listen to over Metal Church or Razor, but it was enlightening to get another perspective on what metal could do in other contexts when the focus wasn't so aggressive, sometimes even happy to a fault. Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II is the first album that comes to mind when I think of albums that have influenced modern power metal more than any other. It pulls out all of the stops with fairy tale lyrics, uplifting and joyous chord progressions, and all in all isn't very... "metal" by my account, though that's more of a subjective viewpoint. Either way, I did see the magnificence in the album. So much so as a matter of fact that I actually listened to this one before listening to Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I, and I'm pretty sure it's against the law in some countries for metal heads to not follow albums in chronological order when they are split into multiple parts.

How could one blame me, part two is longer, has one extra track on it, has the namesake of the duology at the very end of the album, and has one of the best album covers I've ever seen. In the grand scheme of things, the two albums aren't all that different from each other, though I will say that I was truly missing out by skipping part one and fixating squarely on this album because with each Helloween album one will notice this very slight gradual shift in the band towards an ever increasingly pop oriented sound, and by the time we get to this very album, I think we can sing its praises from sun up to sun down about everything that it does right, Michael Kiske's voice is still among the greatest regardless of genre, the original operatic and theatrical sound, the originality of pioneering an entire subgenre, the memorable guitar solos. It's fantastic, but it certainly lacks any good or creative riffs with much of the material on the album being constructed of mere power chords for the majority of each song. It might not be that noticeable if the only thing you had to compare it to was Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I, but if one were to revisit Walls of Jericho, then listen to these two albums back to back, it becomes way more noticeable that the band does seem to be losing their ingenuity along the way.

In small doses, that's not necessarily a bad thing, I personally found the band's debut to be too technical to want to come back to it as much as I do these two albums. So it all works out for my tastes, but the only real issue I take with Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II is this shall we say more authentic power metal sound the band really starts to pioneer here with slaphappy tunes such as "Dr. Stein", "Rise and Fall", and to a lesser degree "I Want Out", a song which could be covered by a pop punk band and no one would bat an eye over it. Not necessarily skip-worthy material, but certainly makes for a less consistent listen when they're stacked up against the glorious and brave "Eagle Fly Free" or the multi-dimensional title track, a kind of masterpiece of a song that many used to think only a band like Queen could write with their magnum opus "Bohemian Rhapsody". Helloween seemed to have something to prove, to not allow themselves to be outdone by their former work, part two needed a thirteen-minute epic to rival "Halloween" to cover all of their bases. Job well done as far as I'm concerned, but I have to say that I do prefer "Halloween", and the first part of the duology in general. Both are great, but "Halloween" has the benefit of being on an album that is actually more guitar oriented, Kai Hansen, Markus Grosskopf and Michael Weikath were still writing decent riffs would inspire someone to pick up a guitar for themselves, part two really has very few of those outside of "Eagle Fly Free".

It was this very direction that influenced original guitarist/singer Kai Hansen to take his leave from the band to form his own power metal band Gamma Ray shortly after the release of Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II, I like to think of Helloween and Gamma Ray as the Metallica and Megadeth of the power metal sub-genre, a guitarist breaks away to form his own band that would rival the success of the band he was previously in, and wouldn't you know it, the band would suffer from his absence as fans ridiculed and shunned the next few albums to come after his departure including the oddly named Pink Bubbles Go Ape and the complete and total descent into pop music that was Chameleon which Kai foresaw as early as Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I. Part two is closer to that pop oriented material than the average listener would expect. I like the album, but I think everyone out there saying it's a masterpiece are forgetting about the obviously weaker tracks among the greats here. Often times I find that an album only needs two or three good songs and everything else can more or less coast on the coattails of the bigger and better tracks and so long as the rest of the material isn't outright garbage, most people will still call it a masterpiece, Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II is definitely one of those albums. It's a step down from the previous album, but still one that should be highly sought after by fans of the genre.

Highlights:
'Eagle Fly Free'
'Keeper of the Seven Keys'
'You Always Walk Alone'

Rating: 8.8 out of 10