Hailing from Germany, ANTYRA can best be described as "Epic Metal" - skillfully arranged songs that are dealing with fantasy stories, mythological and historical themes, put into metal music of rich variety that underlines the lyrical contents and combines Heavy, Power, Pagan, Melodic Death and Black Metal. The album contains nine tracks.

"When der Chronist das Wort erhebt" leads off the album. It's a short acapella track sung in native German. "Phaeton" begins with energetic guitars and that familiar Power Metal sound, with drums rolling and some piano notes. The clean vocal passages sound like something out of a cheesy fantasy novel but the harsh vocals hit the mark pretty well. The arrangements are tight as well. "Die Türme von Kadesh" opens with piano notes and lead guitars, seguing into a heavy but melodic rhythm. The clean vocals are just a bit pitchy. Towards the half-way mark, a clean and darker passage rears its head. It finishes on a key change and harsh vocal movement.

"Quod Erat Demonstrandum" is an instrumental, with more clean vocals, acoustic guitars, and some melancholy tones. "Ischtars Rache" brings that Epic quality to the forefront out of the gates. Now this is what I am talking about. This instrumental is played with confidence. But, the keyboards parts ruin any chance the song has to get off the ground. It's a shame too, as this was the first real song with a hardened edge to it. "Hungry Lions" capitalizes on the cheesy sounds of Power Metal, sounding like a lowly step-brother to SABATON. Oy vey...this hits the cheese factor harder than a hungry mouse.

"Blutzoll im Barbarenwald" features a heavier and more hardened sound with harsh vocals. A few more darker tracks like this could really advance the album. The mid-section has some IRON MAIDEN influences in it. "Am seid'nen Faden" begins with audible bass notes and some ominous backing vocals. The music is pretty decent here...this album is frustrating in this regard. "Sumerischer Traum" closes the album. It opens with bass notes and an air of mystery. The soft tones continue along with a bit of melody. Again, more of this and the album would be much better. It's almost as if the album was divided into two equal parts...the first pitchy and cheesy, and the second hardened and vile. I am at a loss here.

The band puts in a great effort here to get across the things that they want to say, but much of the album falls flat. I am somewhat surprised that they are signed to a major label. The clean vocals are probably the worst part about the album as they are quite pitchy. The overuse of the same cadence is the other. It was difficult for me to find good things to say about this album. You can safely skip it, as I have no idea who it might appeal to.