Worlds Apart

Worlds Apart marks the second release by Horizon, a French/German combination formed in 1998 by guitarist/lead vocalist Patrick Hemen and drummer Krissy Friedrich. The follow-up to the band's debut album, The Sky's The Limit sees the band cranking up their sound a bit with less emphasis on keyboards and more emphasis on a virtual smorgasbord of guitar riffs that ooze from every track and gives the album a very "busy" sound. In fact, aside from some orchestrated keys effects on a couple of tracks and piano on one track, the keyboard/guitar mix that was prevalent on the debut album has been stripped down in favor of a great charging, melodic and heavy power metal sound that is heavy on the melody but certainly does not skimp on the crunching, mid-range thick and heavy guitar riffs. I love the guitar sound on this album; the rhythm guitars have been doubled up with a great mid-range biting sound that is a mix of the Running Wild sound and the Blind Guardian guitar sound on the Tales From The Twilight World and Somewhere Far Beyond albums. This is the sort of album that has the guitars up so high in the mix and with the busy riffing and tons of excellent melodic lead guitar, you find yourself being captivated by it and even tuning out the rest of the song. Don't get me wrong, Patrick has a wonderful and strong melodic vocal style but the mix of this album with it's big "wall of guitars" sound really buries the vocals. I love the sound of the band but the vocals could be a little more "up" in the mix.

The album kicks off wonderfully with the one-two punch of Burning Hunger and Always A Stranger, easily 2 of the better tracks on the album. Burning Hunger uses a neo-classical Yngwie lead guitar sound and has great pounding heavy riffs, a cool offbeat style with a solid groove and even a sense of recklessness to top it off. With strong melodic vocals and choruses, this one is heavy, energetic and even has a slight prog metal touch to it with the lead soloing. Always A Stranger continues with the pounding heavy riffs only this time, it's with a de-tuned and more modern edge to the riffs. Lots of melody and light orchestrated keyboards all combine with a very clever flow to the riffs to create an outstanding track. The soloing on this one is very speedy but with a very melodic sense. Another stand-out track is When The Night Falls, which uses piano and guitar orchestrations for the intro and slowly evolves into an impressive and heavy power ballad. Solid expressive lead guitar and a fine vocal performance by Patrick are all here in great abundance. The rest of the album continues with track after track of very solid and heavy melodic power metal. There's none of the speediness that's so prevalent with the power metal scene as this band prefers more of a "classic" heavy metal approach. The one thing that really separates this band form the rest is the solid groove that is found with almost every song. Catchy and heavy riffs are plentiful throughout and they don't take the simple approach to building songs around simple riff structures, preferring more complex and technical styles.

I really get the feel of classic Dokken or Scorpions with the vocals and chorus structures to their songs and Patrick even manages to come off sounding like Glenn Hughes on a few tracks. Although some songs have a progressive edge to them due to extended soloing and instrumental passages, this is still very much a power metal album. I'm reminded a bit of Artension while listening to this album in spots but Horizon has a much more "muscular" and heavy sound and relies less on keyboards (at least for this album anyway). Every track has varying degrees of catchiness to it whether it's the amazing barrage of riffs or the classy and melodic vocals. A few tracks definitely stand out over others but there are really no substandard or filler tracks here. A definite improvement over their debut album, Horizon has put together a collection of great melodic and heavy tracks that rock with a heaviness not normally associated with melodic power metal or melodic metal in general. A highly recommended album that's sure to stay in your CD player for a while.