Expectations often play a role in listening to music. As a reviewer, I do my best to stay impartial, but there are so many factors that are present before even listening to a new album; it's tricky to ignore them all. Musical style, album cover, notoriety of the band can all come into play. "Never judge a book by its cover" is the old adage for books, but it also applies to music. Have you seen most metal album covers? They are amazing! And descriptive. They can be indicative of the quality of the band or present a clear message of the specific style and content within. The cover for "Cosmic Vision" by Peruvian newcomers DANGEROUS PROJECT is a fun on-the-nose throwback to a time of rock innovators. A yin-yang cosmic landscape with an electric guitar splitting them, a rainbow over the horizon, and a young rocker, red headband pulled tight, reaching up to the distance. There is something extremely endearing about this effort by DANGEROUS PROJECT. There is a fine line separating artists that create an album of era worship: they can either seem unoriginal and repetitive or create something new that is better than the sum of its parts. DANGEROUS PROJECT manages to come up with a sound that is a beautiful tribute to the acts that they clearly idolize and make it pure, fun, and beyond expectations.

"Cosmic Vision" starts off with a short instrumental track, "Evil Strike." Light ambiance sets the stage for a perfectly executed guitar solo. Clean, tight, and full of sweeping chromatics, Oscar J. Martin previews a taste of the classic Eurometal guitar that is at the forefront of the rest of the album. Leading straight into "Hide in the Shadows," DANGEROUS PROJECT delivers a song worthy of the predecessors that they clearly admire. "Hide in the Shadows" gets off to a quick start, hitting the bass hard, and then vaulting into a driving gallop. Then, vocalist Jose Gaona enters the mix. Starting low and slow, he builds up over the course of the song to reach a wonderfully powerful peak in the chorus. For being an independent effort, the production on this album is pretty clean. The strong effect for me in this song, and throughout the album, is the layering of Gaona's vocals in the chorus. He has a voice that can rival Rob Halford or Bruce Dickinson. There are no shortages of hooks and catchy choruses in "Cosmic Vision."

"Burning Angel" is next and has a strong 80's hard rock vibe to it. The tempo is slowed down, but the rocking rhythm is still there. The whole song has a romantic vibe to it and is very comparable to the rock ballads of JOURNEY and RATT. The title track, "Cosmic Vision," elevates the whole album for me. This is the track where Luber Elend and the keyboard come alive and push the neoclassical sound to the forefront. The song slaps hard and is not ashamed to let each component shine. Gaona soars in the verses, splitting between clean falsetto and dropping down to push in a bit more gruffly. Martin's guitar is fiery and alive with the spirit of Yngwie Malmsteen and early Michael Romeo. Eddy Geott on bass and Adnagun Franco on drums fill out the thumping background on the song, keeping the tempo quick and the heart pounding.

"Keeper of the Light" keeps the speed high and sticks to the neoclassical style. For me, this is one of the more memorable choruses, Gaona's voice is infectious and the emphasis placed on the held notes was executed perfectly. The next track, "The Fire in my Heart," is good but I actually prefer the 'Bonus Track' version of it better. When performed in their native Spanish, "El Fuego en mi Corazon" is a terrific ballad. The song starts off with a plucky Spanish acoustic guitar intro before Gaona enters and begins serenading in Spanish. This brings in a level of authenticity to their whole performance that is sometimes missing with international bands. While I appreciate that most of the metal world operates in English, I've always loved it when a band does at least one track in their native language. This diversity is what makes the music so interesting. Plus, when Gaona sings in Spanish, there are major RATA BLANCA vibes which is a really cool connection for the band.

The rest of the album is a pretty good listen. As a debut album, I would say that DANGEROUS PROJECT achieved what they set out to do and they should be damn proud of it. "Cosmic Vision" is a polished, impressive heavy metal album with a number of catchy hooks and perfectly integrated influences that range from 80's hair metal to neoclassical axelords.

Favorite Songs: "Hide in the Shadows," "Cosmic Vision"