Review by JD on September 19, 2011.

Power Metal is one of the sub-genres that I love. It is that bridge between the traditional side of things and the more extreme ends. Many bands try and do thins route, but only a varied few actually succeed in doing it right. Greece based X-Piral is one of many wanting to wear the Power Metal crown.

Combining the odd mixing of cheesy pianos (and horrible keys) into Power Metal takes a whole lot of balls. It would take a band of immense talent and commitment to pull it off, without the metal masses retaliating on them in a bloody coup... sadly, X-Piral don’t have that sort of talent. They try to make it work, that I will give them credit for, but what stops it is the total lack of talent that the band has.

The whole album reeks like ten day old mackerel. It is whiny vocals, uninspired and badly conceived music that is rehashing of so many bands... not to mention the lack of proper recording also kills anything that they do. Throughout the whole 42 minutes of the album, the end comes mercifully finally. As what talent they have it is wasted on third rate riffs and cheesy bad keyboard lines that make mo sense to be in the music in the first place.

I am really ashamed for this band in some respects. They did try and make music that was good - to bad no one told them that they had failed miserably. They just have not got the skills to make the music they want... lofty ambitions, but disappointing truths... they never got near succeeding. X-Piral have a shot to do something, but this style is not for them.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6 (God love them, they tried)
Atmosphere: 4.5
Production: 4
Originality: 4
Overall: 4

Rating: 4.5 out of 10