Well, I will start this review with what should be found somewhere at the end of the review.. I mean the last song of this brilliant debut album for Napalm Records. THE COVER SONG… because you must know by now that I appreciate a lot when bands do a cover, especially such a clever one. What we have here is a cover of ABBA, you know the disco band that won the Eurovision around the early seventies. How does a metal band dare cover ABBA ? Well, they're both Swedish in fact, and what they did with Gimme Gimme Gimme (a man after midnight) is a pure wonder. This band could teach a lot of other bands how to choose and what to do with a cover. My wife, who's not really that much into metal, was stunned with surprise with what they did, and so was I. They kind of slowed the song down in such a way that it sounds as if it has never been a disco song before. As usual you will have to buy the limited digipack edition to get this song, but it is worth a thousand times the price you will pay. In fact, you can blindly buy this album just for this song.
Of course there is more than just this ABBA cover. In fact, there are 10 other wonderful songs (among which an instrumental). Each song is a jewel of its own. The songs are varied, full of melodies and romanticism. Some songs are very melancholy, and also pretty much gloomy, and thus make you feel so good and relax.

The first name that comes to my mind is Lacuna Coil, especially with the male/female vocalists. The female vocals could be compared with Annecke from The Gathering. However, and not as usual, I would say that I am rather impressed by the male vocalist (hey, don't think I am gay). His voice is smooth, not aggressive, and fits perfectly the lightness of the music, and the female vocals are just the little more than makes this album a great surprise to me. I notice also some Paradise Lost influence, especially in the title song souls highway. I would even say that sometimes the voice could be compared to Nick Holmes, era one second. Anathema also comes to mind with the song a last farewell, especially with the male vocals, and this awesome guitar riff, as well as on the song endless water.

You take all the best from the aforementioned bands, and you get this magnificent, superb, wonderful album (and words are missing to describe this masterpiece). Only few records such as this one are released every year, and it ranks among my best albums ever. This is the kind of records that I make myself a copy to listen in my bedroom every night to fall asleep. Bravissimo !!!