KERION hailing from Nice, France were formed in 1997 as KIRLIAN before they changed name in 2002. The symphonic Power Metal outfit released so far two demos and four full-length albums. Their fifth release "Cloudriders - Age Of Cyborgs" was mixed and mastered by Damien Rainaud (ONCE HUMAN). Philippe Giordana (FAIRYLAND) handled the choirs. The album has a length of almost 54 minutes and it was released via Swedish label Beyond The Storm Productions which has a number of Heavy Metal bands among their roster.

KERION are back with the "Cloudrider" series. After releasing "Road To Skycity" (2012) and "Cloudriders" (2015), the futuristic saga "Age Of Cyborgs" continues their journey with a mix of cinematic symphonic Power Metal and electronic influences. KERION calls it "Comics Metal" and when listening to the album, it soon becomes clear what is meant by that.

The 14 songs come with a number of guest vocalists: Elisa Martin (ex-DARK MOOR), Raphael Dantas (EGO ABSENCE), and Vitor Veiga (AQUARIA) all had contributions on the album. "Cloudriders" starts as expected with the cinematic "Riders Theme (Age Of Cyborgs)", before it transitions into symphonic Metal track "Nova Prime" which is enriched with a lot of electronic sound. While the track is straightforward and direct in terms of the guitar riffing, the drumming, and the bass lines, I am not sure whether the electronic entanglements, which actually sound like a 90s revival, have helped the sound of the track in any way. Apart from that, "Nova Prime" is a really good opener, in particular due to the harmonic collaborative work of the vocalists.

"Cloudriders" has a number of short cinematic preludes and one of them introduces "Red Squad", which has a lot of traditional Power Metal elements beside the symphonic elements. The guitars are the dominating instruments, including a contributing lead guitar solo. "One Way Love" starts with an acoustic part supported by the strings and transitions into a ballad-esque part. Some of the melodies are Folk inspired and highlight are the versatility of the female vocals ranging from an angelic type of voice at the beginnings towards a more Rock inspired voice during the faster parts of the track. "One Way Love" is despite the attempts to include a bit of electronic sound one of the album highlights.

"Nowhereland" starts with powerful guitar riffing after the overall oriental melodic theme has been introduced by the prelude "The Desert". The track is for a large part a Power Metal song at up-tempo, but with a lot of twists and turns in rhythm. The Power Metal wheel now really starts spinning with the "Final Race". It is mostly a direct track driven forward by the guitars and drumming, however, there are a few abrupt breaks with attempts to include electronic elements. The song is really at its best when KERION let loose the guitars and drums. "Final Race" is the official lyric video with the YouTube link given below.

After the below par instrumental "Virtual Rhapsody" and another prelude "Alert" (which perhaps represents the term "Comics Metal" best), "Cyborg Hunt" shows a bit the confusion I have with that album. It is an almost traditional Power Metal song, which has all the great attributes of that genre: speed, power, tight guitar riffing, cool melodies and a good lead guitar solo. However, the song also contains a lot of breaks during the middle part, which really do not fit into the track well. In addition, the electronic additions do not contribute well to the song either. "Global Annihilation" is set to be the conceptual highlight of the album and the 10 minutes track summarizes the album very well: it is the attempt to blend symphonic Power Metal with electronic elements. Here the attempt works very well and "Global Annihilation" is really the album highlight. It would have been a very good way to finish the album but there was another final song...

"Cloudriders - Age Of Cyborgs" is a take it or leave it album. Either you like it or you do not. There are a few bands around which include electronic elements successfully into their sound, but I am not sure that the mix of symphonic Power Metal and electronic elements has really worked here. It was a bold choice. At least, KERION have created something unique and that speaks for them. The album is well produced. Often, lesser is more or better. As "Cloudriders - Age Of Cyborgs" is the only "Comics Metal" album I know, it is the best one of this genre.