Sometimes, band names can be misleading. You can assume a band comes from a certain area based on their name, only to find out they are as far away from where you guessed they resided. With a name like CWN ANNWN, you would assume that this band comes from Wales. However, these guys hail from Saint Paul, Minnesota, one of the northern-most areas in the United States. They state that they play Heavy Metal in the styles of IRON MAIDEN and THIN LIZZY, and they do it quite well. The band have been going for well over fifteen years, and

The album's title track, which opens the record, has a strong progressive feel to it, complete with dissonant chords and time changes. It sounds closer to DEVIN TOWNSEND or RUSH than THIN LIZZY. "Stay Forever" is much closer to the bands that they say they emulate. This is essentially a Heavy Metal track with a hard edge to it. It's very melodic. The next song, "Seasons" is a song that is straight up IRON MAIDEN worship, only with the band's own twist to their sound. "Embodied Chaos" is a very heavy track, as far as this album goes, and has a groovy, Death Metal edge to it. "The Accuser" is another song in the style of IRON MAIDEN, and definitely sounds like something that most NWOBHM bands would be proud to call their own. "Divergence of Choice" again uses a lot of the IRON MAIDEN style twin guitars to their advantage, and the guitar hooks in this song are excellent enough to warrant this style being used. "Two Minutes Hate", as the title implies, is a much more aggressive that the track that came before it, which was upbeat and uplifting. The final track, another IRON MAIDEN style riffer called "The Wicked Truth", is a great way to close the original tracks on this album. It has some great guitar lines, solos and vocals, and it really grabs your attention. The song which ends this record, a cover of RUSH's "Subdivisions", is performed really well, staying true to the original while adding the bands own flavour to it.

Although I have compared their style to them a lot here, CWN ANNWN is not just a band that seeks to copy the template of IRON MAIDEN. They have their own sound, plus a myriad of other influences mixed in there as well, which make this more interesting than a mere tribute act. Check this album out and see what you think.