Okay, Metal Blade is out of control, clearly. Every month brings a slew of new albums, many by new bands. And many of those new bands don't really deserve to be on such a prominent label, unfortunately. Of course, there are always exceptions and Eidolon are definitely one. Playing a heavy brand of power metal that mixes up elements of Metal Church, Fates Warning and Hades, this Canadian quartet manages to pump out some solid metal stompers without blatantly copying anyone else.

'Hallowed Apparition' is the fourth album of Eidolon.The first thing that strikes you when hitting play on this disc is the thick, heavy guitar sound. The riffs are skilled monsters that make your neck work, and the drumming by Glen's brother Shawn still reminds me of the mighty Dave Lombardo at times.

Musically, this CD is much in the vain of their former CDs, and I would have liked a bit more variation in here personally. The singer is the weakest part, sounding like a Bruce Dickinson who just woke up. Anyway, don't let this scare you, I am just being a bit picky with singers. That's the way it is when you regard Eric Adams as God... The performances on Hallowed Apparition are all rock solid, with guitarist Glen Drover (ex - King Diamond) providing some outstanding lead work. Glen also produced the album with his brother Shawn and they did a pretty spiffy job of it.

If you like your metal hard, pure and fast, treat your neck to this disc! I take Eidolon any day over all the crappy mediocre European bands that still want to clone Helloween.Excellent release!