At the moment Greece seems to be a hotbed for classic-sounding Power Metal. CRIMSON FIRE are the latest group to come out of there with a focus on speed, high-pitched clean vocals, thick harmonies from background singers, and technical guitar playing. "Fireborn" is the Greek quintet's second album, coming six years after their debut.

The album is packed with 12 songs so full of cheese and over the top passion that it's hard not to enjoy the ride. The riffs are all incredibly generic and predictable, to go along with the stock in trade lyrics; all the songs deal with mythology, dragons, medieval knights, swords and sorcery... leaving out absolutely nothing that hasn't been covered over and over again within the genre. "Fireborn" screams 80s metal from the top of a mountain and is completely unabashed in its retro sensibilities.

"Fireborn"'s production leaves something to be desired. The vocals don't seem to mix in with the instrumentation completely and sound slightly distant in comparison, and with slightly too much reverb. The guitar solos within all the songs are exactly how you would expect them to be - plentiful of technical wizardry and speed, arranged in a fairly melodic sense.

It is difficult to outline individual songs here, as all 12 on the album sound pretty identical...even after a fair few listens. The choruses are packed with high vocals and lots of harmonies and the fast-paced open string riffs that underlie most of the tracks are chugging away continuously. The tracks are all rhythmically tight and the group sounds very in-sync.

Despite the lack of variety or originality within the album, CRIMSON FIRE's "Fireborn" is a fair metal album with plenty of Classic Rock and Power Metal influences. Each song has a catchy hook, plenty of uplifting melody and some decent guitar shredding, all of which are carried with a fast pace, plenty of energy and passion.