Yngwie Malmsteen World On Fire (2016) [japan Shm Cd]

Labyrinth, Italy’s finest purveryors of power/prog metal, held their first reunion show at Frontiers Metal Festival in Trezzo Sull’Adda on October 30, 2016. The renewed lineup played in it’s entirety, for only the second time ever, their most popular record (so far), “Return To Heaven Denied”. The landmark album was originally released by Metal Blade in 1998 and is considered by many to be one of the highlights of the power metal genre in the late ‘90s. In fact, Classic Rock included it in their list of top albums from the genre.

Czech band SEBASTIEN present their album number three and its power metal comes with strong melodies all over the place but with different stylistic shades. You get quite contemporary and hard tracks like “Act Of Creation“ or “No Destination“ as well as ballads (“Queen From The Stars“) or an epic tune like “My Empire“. There’s the whole range of the genre showcased here.

2017 release from the heavy metal vocalist best known for his work with Obsession, Loudness, Yngwie Malmsteen, Dr. Sin, MVP and others. Beyond The Fight includes musical assistance with former Nitehawks members Mike Petrone (guitar), Frank Leone (bass) and Fabio Alessandrini (drums). Vescera plays melodic metal with American influences. The production is superb and accents the excellent heavy yet melodic music.