I have put out reviewing this album for weeks now. Even now as I type I still don't know for sure how I feel about it. It is clear that the band is a talented bunch, it's the originality and the vocals that are putting me off however.

So, let's put this out this out of the way immediately, my biggest gripe with this band are the vocals. I find the singer to be too light for the task. Most high pitched screams are weak and forced (it reaches ridiculous levels in the song Reach for the Sky). But it's the singer's timber that I find kind of incompatible with the band's sound. I think for all it's strong riffing, galloping rhythms and strong melodies, the band needs a powerful singer that imposes himself in front of all that sound barrier that Reinxeed invokes with their music, and I'm afraid their current vocalist is anything but powerful, he is more in the whinny category as far as I'm concerned. The second problem for me is that songs are so derivative from other bands, that the entire album feels like a melpot of different bands, and therefore I find Reinxeed doesn't really have an identity of their own. Maybe it's just me though, who knows :). Overall I can safely say that the band plays typical power metal with some good hooks and some very nice guitar work, and on some selected song the band even shines. The guitars are great if not amazing sometimes, with a good dose of neo-classical parts. Songs that really captured my attention are few however, and the opener is definitely not one of them. Instead the second track, The Final Hour, is my favorite on the album, it's a killer song, but it sounds like it was taken straight off from Sabaton's repertoire. It sounds 100% like a Sabaton song (even the singing style), except the vocals that while better when the singer stays in a medium range, are still not as powerful as Sabaton's. Needless to say if you like Sabaton, you will also love this song. But here is where I have a problem with the highly derivative material on hand, it's great, it sound very well done, the guitars impress more than a few times, but it sounds like songs I've listened before (Dragonland, Sonata Arctica, Helloween,… the list goes on), maybe with less majestic guitar work or with a faster beat (the BPM is scrambled to the max on this album), but definitely with better vocals. The cheese factor of the choruses also gets old after a few songs, especially in the middle-end of the album. I'm all for anthems and high powered choruses, but even living in Switzerland I must say Reinxeed's coat of cheese is too strong for my taste. The overall arrangement are also quite medium compared to the attention and work of the guitars and the keys are too basic (like a quick afterthought), especially if I compare them to say the last Dragonland which arrangements and symphonic elements are amongst the best I've heard to date.

So is it a bad album ? No, not by a longshot, it's a good to very good album and I'm sure many people will disagree with my gripe with the vocals, and for them, then this is probably one hell of an album. But after 10 listens trying to review this album, I have enough of listening to it, it gets repetitive fast and I already know I will have completely forgotten about it in a week or two (save for two songs maybe). Unfortunately for me I can't seem to put the vocal's "lightness" aside and it makes it a chore to listen to the album in it's entirety (I enjoy listening to songs like Terror Has Begun & The Final Hour though). The tempo is almost always very high and the again the guitar work is really great, mostly happy melodies and furiously fast playing / shredding. I will have to listen to their back catalog to see if there is much of a difference, as I've read multiple reviews of this album and most of them were praising the band highly. If you like Power Metal you should probably check them out, I'm pretty sure most fans of the style will enjoy this album from first listen, just don't expect to hear something you've never heard before.