Storytelling is a powerful tool that is used in a large number of places these days as if the writing is good enough, you become really immersed in the tales that are being told be it text based such as a story or audio-based such as music or visual based such as video games, movies and TV shows to name a few. Often basing your story on an ancient tale from a historic time period is good place to start if you are struggling to write your own tale and the band I am featuring in this review have a new album out which seems to be based on an ancient heroic legend. Which one? Let's start this review and find out.

The band in question is called SACRED BLOOD and their new CD "Argonautica" appears to be based around the Greek legend of Jason and the Argonauts which is a tale I'm not all that familiar with. I do know a little bit of it but not that much. Formed in 2002 in Athens, Greece under their old name SACRED, this trio released their first demo the following year and then in 2008 when their debut album was released. The name of the band changed to SACRED BLOOD and their second CD was released in 2012 and now in 2015, the third is released which is the subject of this review.

The tale of Jason and the Argonauts is told over 11 songs and 48 minutes of playtime by this Greek trio and the music incorporates modern power metal while using some folk elements. This makes it sound like a mystical and ancient tale and upon first listen. It appears to have been achieved quite well as the recipe used for the art of telling a story is very well done in terms of the music as the guitars are tuned right. The drums sound very heavy and the epic power metal and folk elements add a certain something which makes the music sound as good as it does, or it does for the most part as there are a few moments where the melodies do clash a bit making it sound a bit messy and hard to make out but fortunately it's only a small problem that doesn't really occur all that much.

So what about the lyrical and vocal departments of the storytelling in this CD? The lyrics have obviously been based around the tale of Jason and the Argonauts which I can occasionally hear but sometimes the music overpowers the vocals which in turn makes the words a little hard to hear in places which is a shame really as the vocal performance is good in the bits you can hear clearly even if it is a little bit hit and miss at times but the amount of punch, oomph and power is just right but I can't really enjoy it as much as I want to as there are moments when I can't hear what's being sung underneath the epic music.

Bottom line, "Argonautica" by SACRED BLOOD appears to have done it's job well at telling the ancient tale of Jason and the Argonauts with the music and the lyrical content but often it can be a bit hard to immerse yourself in the tale if you can't really make out what is being sung but don't let what I have said put you off as I recommend checking this out if you like music that tells a story.