Well, Symphonic Metal has a strong musical appeal in Europe since the style became evident in the end of the 90s. But the indiscriminate use of the formula caused the erosion of the style, becoming sometimes boring to death. So, to do something in this style today demands a great musical creative power. The Estonian sextet EMPHASIS show on their first album, called "Revival", that they really have potential and guts.

They play a form of Symphonic Metal a bit simpler than other bands, with orchestrations done solely by the keyboards, with a good melodic appeal and some broken tempos and, of course, tons of energy. They are still a bit rawer than the needed, but they are in the right way. The sound quality is really good. It's clear and we can hear all the musical instruments separately, and all the musical arrangements. But it has a good amount of weight, and as the instrumental tunes are a bit rawer, it turns their music aggressive. So, in terms of the sound production of the album, we have no great complaints.

The band has some guests to give a different taste to "Revival": Vitaly Beresnev on vocals, Taavi Toomsalu on saxophone, and Sergey Boykov on keyboards, and they do a fine work as well. They have potential to become a great force in the style in the future, but for now, songs as "On the Wings of Freedom" with its broken tempos and very good melodies on keyboards, the catchy keyboards arrangements of "Blind Faith", the beautiful harmonies of "Death Itself" and of "Every Time" (this one with excellent work from vocals), the very good work from bass guitar and drums shown on the heavy and melodic "Emptiness", and the good guitars on "Shadow Falls" are very good songs. But it's too clear that they can do better than we hear on the album. I believe in the work, so listen to "Revival" and take your own conclusions.