El Diablo! Matt Moliti really managed to kick my ass with the debut of his band Dark Empire. Have you ever imagined how a band would have sounded like if they tried to fuse Onward / Brainstorm / Children Of Bodom / Symphony X? Well imagine no more! Dark Empire not only tried but also succeeded in making this formula work under the guiding fury of guitar virtuoso Matt Moliti!
Matt started forming the band back in 2004. After he experimented with lots of different genres of Metal music, he stated enlisting musicians for his band. The current lineup features Noah Martin (Lilitu), Jens Carlsson (Persuader, Savage Circus) and Teemu Tahkanen (DIG). Distant Tides is the band's debut attempt, though the song The Final Vision has already appeared on the sampler CD for the Progpower V festival.
As you can imagine, everything here rotates around the stunning performance of Matt. However what I appreciate the most is that he avoids filling the songs with lengthy solos. On the contrary all songs have a killer rhythm section where the modern production gives an additional edge. Some extreme elements do exist, brutal vocal lines here and there, some ultrasonic drumming... but it is quite obvious that Moliti's roots are buried deep inside the traditional U.S. Power Metal school.
In its short duration, just above 36 minutes, Dark Empire convinced me that a bright future lies ahead of them. By far one of the most interesting releases for 2006 so far!