Hailing from Germany, Ra's Dawn has released a solid slab of progressive power metal. This is their official debut, following two self-released albums entitled Solar Force and Unveiling the Grotesque. As the name is implying, this is inspired by ancient egyptian mythology both lyrical and musical, and the songwriting is heavily touched by arabic and oriental scales and patterns.

Scales of Judgement is fairly reminiscent of Iron Maiden's Powerslave days, however, this is no rip-off or anything. I hear some Helloween here too, and at the same time they mix in influences from both thrash, traditional, even a little doom. The progressive stylings varies between complex song structures, great instrumental parts, offbeats etc. However some of this seem a bit rushed and it's definitely not a polished piece of work. Forever kicks it all off with decent meloides, and some pretty cool riffs. On the other hand, the shaky vocals and the sometimes downright sloppy leads doesn't exactly blow you away. Then again some of the solos here, like the one on Terrified is simply stunning.

This is somewhat darker than you'd expect from a german prog/power metal band. They've probably picked up influences from bands such as Nevermore along the way. The dark and doomy Anubis and the thrashy In oceans of Life sets a gloomy atmosphere. The riffage on the latter is very entertaining Dual guitars, chopping riffs, and steady vocals raises the level a couple of notches from the previous songs, and is the first really memorable track here. After a short accoustic interlude, Ra's Dawn unleash the prog attack The Masque of The Red Death. The keyboard and guitar duals are dominant, and Olaf Reiman controls his voice in a safe way, and the previous shaky moments are forgotten.

Flame of War is the absolute highlight on Scales of Judgement. It discusses the matters of the war between the Irish and the Englishmen, and is heavily influenced by Irish folk melodies. If you're into the celtic stuff that Iron Maiden tends to use in their songs, you'll love this. I'm one of those and this songs blows everything else on here away. A complete epic with elegant melodies, emotion, and killer riffs. The stunning Terrified and the anthemic Exodus shakes the pyrmaids in the very foundation, as it rounds up a slightly unstable but very enjoyable listen. For the most part, this is really good. However, they should use more time in studio, and perfect every single detail before they decide to release anything new, and from what I've heard on their website, they've done just that.