I had the impression that MYSTIC PROPHECY was just another project band formed my Gus G who had already gained some publicity points through his work with DREAM EVIL. His decision to focus exclusively on his main band, FIREWIND, was his excuse to leave MYSTIC PROPHECY. Actually this was not the only casualty; Dennis Ekdahl left the seat behind the drum kit empty  after the release of the pretty good Never Ending in 2004.
Well, many thought (including me) that this was the end for this Power Metal band; after almost two years Savage Souls the light of the day, clearly stating that MYSTIC PROPHECY were here to stay! The line-up was reinforced by the two axemen Martin Grimm and Markus Pohl from HEADSTONE EPITAPH and SYMPHORCE, respectively and the one drummer Mathias Straub from SACRED STEEL. Although, the album was written under a lot of pressure and stress it received something more than positive feedback from the media.
After the aforementioned release, the band left Nuclear Blast and joined Massacre Records that sent us the promo CD for Satanic Curses. From the very first CD spin I realized that MYSTIC PROPHECY sound way better without Gus G. Before you start throwing accusations at me let me explain myself; first of all, I really like FIREWIND and deeply respect Gus' composing potentials but the first MYSTIC PROPHECY albums sounded just like FIREWIND with some additional aggression. In Satanic Curses the band have moved towards a more personal sound away from the classic and predictable European Power Metal music genre. R. D. Liapakis has managed to impress once again with his powerful harsh vocals that sometimes remind me of SYMPHONY X's Russell Allen.
The songs are riff driven with melodic and aggressive guitar hooks that most of the times leave absolutely no space to breath in tracks like Rock The Night or Dark Forces. I think that the band added more aggression and speed to the overall sound moving one more step further from the European cliche sound. The sound is once again flawless and is a courtesy of Liapakis and the famous producer Fredrik Nordstrom. I really enjoyed the dark atmosphere that can be in almost every corner of Satanic Curses with the matching evil-ish song titles and lyrics.
Personally, I found this album as the best of the band's back catalogue and definitely deserves something more that our attention because this company of high skilled musicians have a lot things to say (or should I say play?). In the album is the very good and really interesting cover (the guitar vibrato is excellent) version on BLACK SABBATH''s simplest yet trademark song Paranoid.