This is the debut of Austrian power metallers, Serenity. The band has been touring along with bands such as Kamelot and Morgana Lefay, and have therefore created a name for themselves within the power metal scene. Prior to this purchase, I heard Serenity being compared to Kamelot, and since I'm a big fan of Khan and the gang, I didn't hesitate to pick this up.

Does Words Untold & Dreams Unlived live up to the expectations? First of all, this is not entirely power metal. Some of the songs tends to drift into progressive metal territory with advanced song structures and slightly complex rhythm sections. Secondly, I don't entirely get the Kamelot-comparison. Fair enough, this is catchy as hell, well produced and melodic. However the vocals sound nothing like Khan, the riffing falls short, and the powerful orchestrations are absent. That does not mean that this is bad. Far from it. Canopus 3 kicks things off with eastern melodies and crispy riffs, and it points the album in the right direction. Each song basically follows the same formula with exciting intros, energetic riffs, catchy vocal melodies and choruses loaded with hooks.

The title track(s) are divided into two short interludes which is rather pointless. They have nothing to do with the other songs and does not set any particular mood. They're just annoying space-wasters if you ask me. As far as I know this is no concept album, which only makes them even more pointless. The third song Circle of My 2nd Life keeps the machinery going, and vocalist Georg Neuhauser sounds like a more consistent and firmer version of Tony Kakko(Sonata Arcitca), including the shaky english. Some of the songs here like Engraved within tends to get fairly generic and unexciting. Plodding and simple piano melodies mixed with boring riffs and uniuninspired vocals is stuff that urges me to hit the skip-button. Luckily there are songs like the killer Thriven to make up for wasted time.

I couldn't help but notice the lack of exciting guitar solos here. The riffs aren't always strong enough to save them, and the leads that are present sounds rather uninspired and dull. It would add a new dimension to the music with thrilling leads, as some of the songs desperately needs some variation. That is probably the only weakness here. The songwriting is good, the riffs are good, the vocals are enjoyable and so are the drums. However, this lacks the extra touch to make it a truly amazing album. Although I've handed out some harsh words now, I must admit that I was fairly impressed with this. I'm usually very critical towards power metal bands, so if you're a fan of the genre in general you will dig this.