From Verona, Italy, we have the album release from a single guy that has been going strong in the Italian  music scene since 2008. Is sixteen years on the road with 7 albums on his belt plus many other singles. Luigi Soranno is his name and Power/Symphonic Metal is his game. Luigi seems to be a multi-instrumentalist and a do-it all kind of guy. The most recent release is the long titled Until Where The Northern Lights Reign that has a nice art cover as you can see somewhere in this page. Let’s check if the music is nice as well. The album starts with “One Last Ride”and I have to say that is quite good despite my impression that the drums are clearly programmed. If not, please credit the drummer cause he is really electronically amazing.

You can immediately feel the vibes of LACUNA COIL, ANGRA, and more recently ALL FOR METAL as references. However since Luigi has been around for some time, he may be as well the influencer instead of the influenced. The next one is “King Of Kings” and the themes seem to be concentrated in a magical and mysterious medieval age which goes along with the whole package. Another characteristic of the songs is the overpowering keyboards over the guitars. The arrangements, despite being very nice, were clearly written for keyboards. The drummer is a machine as it sounds amazing. We reach “The Dark Portals of Agony” and we have again the keyboards leading the way. Keyboards seem to be Luigi’s main instrument despite some tunes having crazy guitar solos on occasions. The approach is very operatic as well as the compositions and performance. This one has a nice play between the evil and the good represented in the vocal performance. The vocal performance is also impressive. Luigi has pipes and knows how to use them. This tune for me is a highlight so far.

We reach “Dwarven Storm” is another good power speed metal tune with hints of DRAGONFORCE. The vocals once again are impressive, reaching some very high notes. The guitar solo is in a different drum time signature that makes the solo more interesting. We reach halfway with “ Dead Hordes Ride From Hell”. The tunes are pretty consistent in their proposal. This means that there are no surprises so far. No odd balls, or tunes with a different approach. This can be sometimes good as it keeps the theme in focus, and sometimes it can be bad and it may get a little boring. In my opinion, this is exactly the moment that you throw a curveball and show something within the style and proposal but with a completely different flavor. There is a limit of how much double bass drum and speed a human can listen to in a single album. It should not be used in all the songs.

The 6th tune “Last Shàranworld's Hope’ came exactly to contradict me. A nice and dramatic instrumental with good arrangements in a slower tempo with amazing musicianship and great guitar and keyboard work. We reach  “Against the Legions of Darkness “ and we go back to the frenetic speed. And I am not complaining again as it is called speed metal for a reason. And this is another highlight for me as it is quite good. A little more economic on the keyboards (not too much) and with the guitar riffs more present (not too much). Luigi also uses interesting keyboard sounds in his solos. We get close to the end with “We Will Meet Again” and this is the expected ballad. And it is an ok one. Descent melody and a nice piano arrangement. I was expecting the octopus drummer to start going crazy suddenly, but it did not happen. He seems much more tamed on this one. It's a nice break from the speed frenzy.

We finish our journey with the album title ‘Until Where the Northern Lights Reign” and it is another instrumental that could be used in any epic journey movie. I was unable to credit any bass playing since the bass is not much detached from the guitar. This is what you get when you put guitar players to play bass. Wait! The song is not an instrumental, the vocal and the Terminator drummer just started. This is probably the biggest instrumental part before the song starts that I have ever heard. The tune follows the same speed and nice arrangements of the others. Good work Luigi. What you have accomplished by yourself with ARCANE TALES is no easy feat and if you really arranged, produced and played every instrument, hats off to you. I do expect to see this in a live performance someday hopefully with ba band if this would be possible. I would also like to apologize if you actually played the drums or if this was performed by another drummer. Please don’t tell me his name is Mario.