Romania is a country in the East of Europe that, at first time, we can think about Vlad Tepes Drakul, the historical leader that inspired Bram Stoker to write his classic novel, "Dracula". As well, it reminds us all about the communist oppressive regime from 20 years ago. Now, the country is showing very good names on Metal scene, being one of them the quartet KRATOS, that after 17 years since the release of their first album, "Looking Behind the Mirror...", now comes back with "Arlechino", their second album. They are into what many can name as Gothic Metal, or in other words, that Metal style guided by harmonic female voices and very good orchestration on keyboards. But besides these elements that are presented by the quartet (in a very good way, Big Daddy here must state), their guitars are excellent as well. The bass and drums creates very good and heavy rhythmic passages, and there are extreme shrieked vocals contrasting with clean female ones. Their music is atmospheric, beautiful, intense, and with some elegant parts. Ok, I know that this is not a new thing into Metal, but the way they play it is very good and they show great and strong personality.

The production of "Arlechino" was done in a very good way, and the final result is a clean and loud sound quality, with very good instrumental tunes. But it is heavy and aggressive when the band's music demands, so be prepared for some changes in only one single song. "Arlechino" is a very good work from its beginning to its end, and the songs are all very good. But as their finest moments, we can point to "Arlechino" (with very good contrast between aggressive moments, where the harsh voices dominates, and clean ones, where female tender and melodic ones prevails), the hypnotic and tender melodies on "Fishing" (again with very good orchestrations on the keyboards), the bitter and brutal weight of the guitar riffs on "Inner Chaos" (filled with very good keyboards and a fine work from bass and drums, that creates very good rhythmic changes), the oppressive and grandiose moments of the keyboards and nasty guitars on "Three Times in a Lifetime" (it has some somber and great aggressive moments) and the excellent "Delirium" (where the guitar riffs are technical and aggressive, contrasting with the melodic and dense atmosphere of the song). They are really talented musicians, and know how to create a good musical work. So let's hope that "Arlechino" will be followed by a successor soon, and KRATOS to stay with us once more.