Satanic Curses

Germany's Mystic Prophecy are back with their fourth album and damn if it isn't another killer slab of meaty power metal! This band got off to a very promising start with their debut album, and has been delivering some of the heaviest melodic "true" metal album after album since then. They survived the departure of guitar wiz Gus G. after their second album and in fact have become an even better band since then. Their last album Savage Souls and this brand new album Satanic Curses offer some of the best material ever to come from Mystic Prophecy. Vocalist R.D. Liapkis is a really strong asset to this band both with his "leather lunged" Bruce Dickinson style of vocals as well with his killer production talents, in delivering an album that comes as close to perfection in sound as any band in the melodic power metal genre. Driven by the dual guitar talents of Martin Grimm and Markus Pohl, Mystic Prophecy pounds bands like Hammerfall into merciless submission.

Jammed full of as many meaty and chunky riffs, fills and assorted other lead guitar harmonies as physically possible, Mystic Prophecy is the equivalent of power metal on steroids. Every track features the great soaring vocals by R.D. Liapkis, who as mentioned, uses more of a "shouting" Bruce Dickinson style and harmonizes his voice for all of the chorus sections. Beginning with their last album Savage Souls and continuing with full force here, more aggressive thrash metal style riffs and vocals are becoming more prominent in their sound, notching up the heaviness factor immensely over most other power metal bands. Speedy double bass-fuelled monster riffs as well as chugging palm-muted Falconer style power metal are staples of this band's sound. Album highlights include Dark Forces with it's awesome use of drop D palm-muted riffs and harmony thirds with a dash of thrash metal to spice things up. The title track Satanic Curses is more atmospheric than most other tracks yet still has the chugging heaviness and huge chorus; staples of every track on this album. Evil Of Destruction features some seriously ripping and fast power metal as does the track Damnation with the latter being quite possibly one of the best songs that this band has ever done. Ultra speedy with some Metallica / Megadeth style riffs, this one's full of hammering double-bass, chunky riffs, a huge soaring chorus in an otherwise darker and more abstract track. Emotional yet still heavy power metal is heard with Sacrifice Me, a track that also features Blind Guardian like "celtic" flavored guitar harmonies that also beings Falconer to mind with it's heaviness. Fierce and charging, Grave Of A Thousand Lies is a fine example of melodic "true" metal with it's blasting guitar riffs and "gang" vocal style. We Fly is included as a bonus track and is another great soaring and heavy power metal track that uses some harsh vocals for backing effect and some very tasteful and harmonic lead guitar work. A cover of Paranoid by Black Sabbath is included as well and the band attempts to "chunk" up the sound of it with somewhat lacklustre results. Just how can you ruin a song that just about every bar band/garage band in existence has ever played (and much better than it is here). Fear not, for it's just a tiny blemish on an otherwise outstanding album.

It sure is great to see more thrash metal styles and aggression creeping back into power metal again. With every album, Mystic Prophecy is moving further and further away from the Euro power metal sound to the more Americanized Iced Earth, Jag Panzer musical style yet still retaining the huge melodic aspects to their sound. Faster and more intense than bands like Hammerfall, Mystic Prophecy is one of the heavier power metal bands out there and reaps the benefits of a massively thick sound that is just killer to crank up. There's nothing deep here that needs to be "discovered" by repeated listens. This albums strikes hard and with massive impact right from the first listen and if you're not head-banging, throwing the horns or playing air guitar after the first couple of tracks then you're not listening to it loud enough!!