As much as I love a band that tries a different kind of sound; it's not always as effective of I might expect it to be. I also must admit that I am a snob when it comes to the Death Metal growls, and tend to get annoyed whenever I hear it being used in place of clean vocals in places where it seems out of place. With that being said; VOICES OF DESTINY is a cool and original band, but this record did nothing for me.

I mean; sure it has its moments, but I had a hard time getting into this one. The riffs felt a little stale to me, and the Death Metal growls felt completely out of place in this band that otherwise sounds like your run-of-the-mill symphonic metal band. What I did like was the use of an Orchestra on some of the tracks such as the single "My Seperation". I thought Maike Holzmann's Vocals were smooth and understandable. In contrast to the last Symphonic band I reviewed WHISPERING WOODS, for example. The rest of the mix sounded pretty dull.

So basically; I liked what they were trying to do, but didn't think it was that well done. That's really about the best way I could put it. Some tracks like "Untouchable" were pretty cool, and had some decent riffs, but the majority of it didn't leave much of an impression on me. I think the best track on the album is the single "My Seperation". So my usual advice to check out the single and see if you like it may not necessarily mean you'll like the rest of it. It's not bad though, so if you find this sucker at a discount; I'd say go for it.

I think VOICES OF DESTINY has a huge amount of potential if they really refine their sound. "Power Dive" is not the strongest effort I think they are capable of, but it's a nice start. I'd like to see where they go in the future though, and I definitely hope they keep the live orchestra as a recurring element on future records. Only time will tell. Check out the single and see how this band hits you.