Manticora has grown a lot these years, no doubt about it. The "rocky" heavy/speed band - who gave our first ever interview on metalreviews.com - is slowly but surely becoming a wonderful butterfly. Hyperion sees Manticora spreading its wings and flying away from the mass. The talent of the band is crystallized on their third album and you will discover that these musicians are following the path of the best (Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Nevermore).

The trademark of Manticora - jumping from one tempo to another - is fully controlled this time : speedy here, heavier a few second later, thrashy when the tempo gets fast again and finally progressive when needed. Only the "tenors" are able to write & play such a music, without boring the listener. The song-writing is topnotch, full of ideas and these musicians have strategically inserted lots of different tempos throughout the main tracks to increase the already astounding amount of atmosphere contained within this disk. Lars' vocals are better than ever -what a voice !!!- and the guy can be proud to sound like nobody else. The guitar is also unbelievable on Hyperion and the number of "killing solos" is outstanding - listen carefully to the one on A Long Farewell, that's my favourite. The production is extremely sharp and each instrument has been placed and mixed at the right place. Congratulation for this wonderful sound !

After the "usual" intro, Filaments Of Armageddon hits the street ... bang bang ! Being a huge fans of Blind Guardian, Iced Earth and Nevermore, this song is the sum of these bands plus this typical Manticora's recipe that makes the difference. Of course, Lars' vocal is a part of the "secret recipe" but there is no doubt the song-writing process has been taken very seriously. Filaments Of Armageddon will certainly become a classic of the band. I mentioned many time Blind Guardian because for me Manticora is a kind of progressive dark side of the Germans bards.

The other "surprise" on Hyperion comes from the female vocal here and there, but don't worry, these vocals are used perfectly on very few moments - I actually notice them only after a few spins. Keeper Of Time - Eternal Champion - another future classic song from the Danish band - sees oriental feeling, with a wonderful bass surrounding the whole song. Cantos explode my last resistance ... actually the drummer explodes me :)) No doubt about it my dear readers, this is the best effort of the band so far ! But this is no surprise for me as I already told you back in 1999 that Manticora is a future monster !

Hyperion is a very important step for Manticora, the third step to be precise, the time when a band must score or die. Well, as far as I am concerned, Manticora scores largely with this one and if you still don't know this band, you should definitely run to the nearest store and rob one of the best power/speed/prog metal of this year. Gosh I like this band :))