Italy's The Prowlers originally started out as an Iron Maiden tribute band and still do Maiden tribute shows now and then. They eventually started writing their own material, releasing three demo recordings, The Prowlers (1999), A Descent Into The Maelstrom (mini CD - 2001) and Souls Thieves (2002). The latter eventually catching the attention of the Northwind/Steelborn label which signed them. This album is the band's first full-length album.

Unlike many other Italian power metal bands, The Prowlers is not symphonic and speedy and there's only 1 track that has anything to do with dragons (that's a refreshing change!!). Instead, the band offers up an interesting slice of solid Helloween and Iron Maiden influenced heavy metal. Many of the tracks have an Iron Maiden tone to them and lead vocalist Fabio Minchillo can do both Bruce Dickinson and Paul Di'anno styles of vocal delivery. Some of the more rawer and reckless sounding tracks really bring the listener back to the early days of Iron Maiden, especially the first 2 albums. The track Memories, with it's older Maiden sound and Dave Murray style lead guitar is a prime example of that aspect of the band's sound. The band uses lots of tempo changes and many thematic riff interludes with lots of harmony leads. Many tracks wander into many different styles, varying from fast to slow then fast again, using a fair amount of instrumental passages. This certainly is not a boring band to listen to. The Prowlers maintain a dramatic sense to most of their music with some of it having a more progressive edge. Slow pounding heavy segments often are shattered by very quick and abrupt tempo changes usually consisting of very fast backing rhythms accompanying very fast shredding lead guitar. Once Again cycles around three different riffs and is another great dramatic song with some killer riff breaks. The track Decent Into The Maelstrom even has a Mercyful Fate style of abstract guitar riffing with an older Queensryche atmosphere. A real treat is an ultra-cool cover version of Ultravox's The Voice from their Rage In Eden album. They manage to keep the original spirit of the track but spice it up with speedy and fast drumming and big fat power chord guitar. A stunning version of the classic 80's song

Musically, with the arrangements, performance and structure of the songs, this band is very, very good and shows lots of potential. Lead vocalist Fabio Minchillo does a decent job but his voice sounds very strained at times. The choruses to the songs are fair but none really stand out. His overall vocal delivery style is something that needs work as well. He has all the tools as far as range and power in his voice, it's just that the very high quality of the music from this band demands that he step it up a notch to complement the band's sound. As far as great tempo changes, excellent dramatic riff breaks and overall excellence in style and sound, this band is top notch. The one thing that they need is a stronger vocal performance and stronger lyrical structure to their songs. I'm not sure if it's the language barrier (all songs are in English) or what, but to me, it's what is preventing The Prowlers from achieving their full potential. I'd very much like to hear more from these guys in the future as with improvements in the aforementioned areas, great things could be possible from this band.