Often when bands go on a hiatus, the terms behind it can vary as some do it because of musical differences and some do it because they need to take a break and try something new by themselves. These hiatuses can range from temporary with the bands reforming later on or the hiatus can become permanent with the band never getting back together to make new music. Although I don't quite know the reasons behind the band featured in this review's hiatus, I do know it was temporary though as they reformed and recorded a new album which is out next month so without further ado, let us dive into this review.

The band in question is American Power Metal band BORN OF FIRE who will be releasing their second album "Dead Winter Sun" in a few weeks' time. The 5 piece Arizona based quintet formed in 1998 and released their debut self-titled demo a year later in 1999 before releasing their debut album "Transformation" in 2000 with a second self titled demo coming out in 2001. In 2002, the band took a temporary hiatus and came back 10 years later in 2012 with their compilation "Anthology" before getting to work on their second album which is called "Dead Winter Sun".

The 10 track album which runs in at around 42 minutes playtime will be released on Pure Steel Records and on the face of it, it has all the typical ingredients for a Power Metal album including harmonic melodies from the keyboards, heavy guitars, pounding drums and powerful vocals. When you listen to it, you know what to expect especially if you've listened to other Power Metal albums before but each like to be different so they stick to the same formula as used by other bands but tweak it and refine it to make it their own so they stick out from others.

BORN OF FIRE appear to be just such a band as they may be using the same formula and style as similar bands in the same genre but there's something about their music which makes them different to others I've heard before. To explain it a bit, I will say that there is a common trap that Power Metal bands fall into which is they focus too much on making the music too heavy and just burying the vocals in the mix as sometimes you can't hear what it being said but even if you can, there are some singers in the genre just don't have that oomph that you would otherwise look for.

Fortunately, this band have sort of steered away from that trap as there are times the vocals do get buried in the mix but I will say that the singer for this band does have the oomph you look for. I mean yes there are some songs where the vocals are stronger then others but overall, the vocal performance is actually quite good for this genre but I think that in order to make it heard a bit better, the vocals either need turning up or the guitars need toning down in the editing suite.

You may think that because I said the guitar needs toning down a bit, that the music is not that good but in actual fact it is. Let's start with that Power Metal formula which I mentioned earlier. This album has everything in that formula as the keyboard melodies are very harmonic and very mystical for an album in this genre. The drum beats have a change of pace and tempo in some songs with some simple medium paced speeds one minute and then some fast double bass drumming the next with some furious kick pedalling happening behind the kit.

The guitars are mostly electric, heavy and fast paced but there are a couple of songs here and there which use either acoustic guitars or a tone on the electrics to make them sound acoustic. Whichever one it may be, the guitars actually sound pretty good for the most part.

So what do I think about this album from BORN OF FIRE? For the most part this is just like other Power Metal albums out there but it's very like-able as there are some strong and powerful melodies with some vocals that may need a bit of fine tuning here and there but the performance is good for the most part and you do become impressed with what you do hear and the same is said for the rest of the music on this album including the guitars, drums and keyboards to name a few.