Crystal Empire sent in this CD, their Demo, for review. It was a printable CD with a nice watermark on it, with a simple booklet but a very nice artwork, inside a jewel box. They have also added a CDR with photos of the band, a biography and a well-crafted presentation. Other bands send me a CDR and a handwritten note including the songs and maybe (if I'm lucky enough) an email address. I strongly advise those bands to check out Crystal Empire's press kit and reconsider their opinion about what professional presentation means.
The story of Crystal Empire began in the year 2000, when guitarist Mat Devecchi joined forces with a new-born band called Nemesi. After a year spent playing cover songs in numerous live gigs (playing Queensryche, Primal Fear, Iron Maiden, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Dream Theater and Deep Purple tunes), the band embraced the idea of writing original songs in order to prepare a demo tape. Soon Mat and Emanuele, the keyboard player of the band, started laying down riffs and melodies, and after a few months of hard work the two found themselves with five long compositions. Unfortunately several lineup changes postponed the recordings for a long period. Finally, with their current lineup the band started recording the CD at Mat's Ivory Gate Studios, entering then the RockHattle Studios with producer Albino Barbero in order to put the final touches on the product.
Crystal Empire delivers the so much popular to their country and Greece as well, symphonic Power Metal. They look towards Rhapsody but their music is not swamped in keyboards. In fact the major cards of the band are the exceptional work of Mattia (guitars) and the theatrical performance of vocalist Simon Byron. The songs are quite lengthy but the use of choir, the well-placed solos and several other tricks keep the interest level high enough.
The production is of professional standards, making this work sound like a sampler out of a full-length spinner rather than a demo effort. I can't say this is a perfect work: there are some details the band should take a look at. For example, the backing vocals at times give this, common to most symphonic acts, Smurf-like flavour to the songs. There seems to be some stitching of riffs here and there but nothing too eye-poking.
Crystal Empire is a band on its way. If they manage to get better in time then they will probably be the next big thing in the field of the genre the serve.