With their second effort to date, Meduza is back with their new full-length titled “Upon the World”, that I believe should have been more appropriately called “Now and Forever II”. While the songs may sound different, virtually all the flaws from the last album are back to plague the listener’s ear.

Musically this album is impressive, and I can certainly say that Meduza knows how to dish up the melodious Power Metal. Stefen Berg’s Neo-Classical guitar work is in full swing, and Apollo Papathanasiou’s silvery vocals make their presence felt. But, while the criterion for making a good power metal album is present, Meduza doesn’t succeed in putting their own original spin on it, making this album more of an amalgamation of prominent metal figures than anything else. They simply are unsuccessful in creating something they can call their own. The guitars reek of Malmsteen and Blackmore so much that one may claim that they’re are a copycat, and stylistically everything just reminds me too much of Symphony X. While I dislike criticizing a fellow Greek, I have to say that Papathanasiou’s vocals on the plodding numbers such as “Dream On” and “Face of the Demon” are boring, bluntly said. He rarely reaches any impressive notes and repeats the choruses endlessly to the point that after hearing him say “Dreeeeaaamm ooonnn!” and “The face of the deeeemon!” 12 times each, I feel compelled to throw this disc out of the window.

There are also way too many slow-paced tracks that add to the general bromidic style of this album (6 out of 9 to be exact). The only enjoyable slow-pacer that that I consider interesting would be “Can you tell”, who’s chorus has fantastic melody, and sensational background vocals. The biggest points must definitely be awarded to Mike Wead (Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, Memento Mori), who does a stellar job in producing this album. The synths, background vocals/sounds, and sound quality are just superb and definitely raise its credibility.

The more upbeat tunes such as “Divinia Comedia” and “Upon the World” are truly the highlights of this album and are the only reasons why I’d pop it into my CD player again. “Upon the World” manages to stay interesting at all times by not committing chorus overkill and keeping the length at 4 minutes. The drumming is at its best with a fiery rhythm and the guitars bear less of the heavy Malmesteen sound that dominates the other tracks.

The only good reason to buy this album would be either A) You just have to have every album possible affiliated with the Power Metal genre or B) You just can’t get enough of that Malmsteen sound. If A or B don’t relate to you, stay clear, because this album won’t entertain you for very long.