Another day, another Power Metal album. Well, it's always fun to listen to new bands in this genre even though it might be quite saturated. It's probably because I listened to the glory days of the genre in the mid nineties or it's for some other reason that escapes me.

This band did give some pretty good glimpses of real talent though. This band pushed some limits that the genre hasn't seen in a number of years. It's not easy persay to break through that wall of stability that is the Power Metal genre but these guys did a pretty good job.

Is is revolutionary? Well...no, but it's very enjoyable to listen to. They really digged into the roots of the genre and put their own twist on things. Like on the first two songs, the guitar work made me think of DRAGONFORCE back in their heyday. It's shredding at it's best and did remind me of that awesome period in the comeback of the genre.

''Sacrified and Immortalized'' as well as ''The Great Palace of the Sea'' bring me back to some of the awesome stuff STRATOVARIUS were putting out in the mid to late nineties. These songs are some of the great stuff ASTRALION can offer and they bring back to a wonderful time to be a Power Metal fan. These are longer songs but they don't drag out like some songs can do.

I could have cared less about ''Wastelands of Ice'', being its a prototypical Power Ballad that most Power Metal bands dish out in their albums. I never really understood that tendency but anyways I digress.

I highly enjoyed the fact that they talk alot about Science Fiction and Horror Movies in their lyrics. I mean compared to the wizards, warriors, goblins, dragons we usually have as lyrical themes, well this was a refreshing feeling! When I saw the names of the songs before listening to the album, I thought ''Black Adder'' was an homage to the awesome British Television show but it's not! But it's still my favorite song off the album.

The other songs are quite interchangeable, nothing really stands out for me but they have some really nice double bass drumming and excellent guitar solos. The guys can rival with any band out there in the genre (and subgenres).

An enjoyable release, please keep an eye on these guys!