MENTALIST is back with their 4^th album in a span of 5 years, ‘’Earthbreaker”. This is the main band right now of BLIND GUARDIAN founding member and drummer, Thomas ‘’The Omen’’ Stauch. He was also part of SAVAGE CIRCUS, IRON SAVIOR amongst countless others. His influence on European Power Metal has been felt for over two decades without a shadow of a doubt!

This entire album is packed with one giant passionate performance, which surely makes this one of the best albums of 2025. The album is also fairly diverse; you’ve got your thrasher songs, heavy set, and the in between which shares both the thrash and heavy characteristics. Rob Lundgren‘s vocal implementation is pretty ardent, but I still think this singer, hell this album, could have been the spiritual successor (without being overly patriotic and all the jokes that come with it) to ‘’The Glorious Burden’’ by ICED EARTH. At times Rob Lundgren channels his inner Ripper and has a sound quite similar to Rob Halford, and you can hear some vocal melodies and tones similar to Judas Priest’s “Screaming For Vengeance” and “Painkiller“ which is one hell of a compliment. What I’m referring to for some songs are the high pitched singing style and the well placed shrieks that Lundgren dishes out, sounding very much like the middle-class man’s Rob Halford.

When it comes to anything new (or new-ish) in the Power Metal world, well, he way I look at it is, if you can tell the difference between all of the songs, then the composer has done a good job. That’s the thing - none of the songs sound exactly the same...and no matter how parallel the riffing style is to previous works, it won’t change the fact that the tempo and rhythm are different. One can argue that some of the songs may be simplistic, but even the most well-liked songs aren’t the most complex in construction - you have to hear the music for what it is, not see it as it’s contrived in order to fully appreciate it. The guitar duo of Kai Stringer and Peter Moog demonstrate admirable hand agility and stamina on songs like the thrashing “Monkey King” which only induces the will to bang your head until your spine snaps in half.

Of course, Thomas Stauch proves himself to be one of the most coherent and best drummers in the power metal world on songs such as “March on Legionnaire”, “Mistress of Pain”, and the title track “Earthbreaker”. Whenever he has the opportunity to give some speed, he goes above and beyond. I found nothing except joy at the fact that he got to show off a little bit. The album as a whole isn’t the best representation of his skillset on the kit, but in some songs (like the ones I just mentioned) give you a good sense of how good he is. Stauch simply destroys with his burley drum sound and the speed that goes with it. That’ where you see how important he was in the infancy of BLIND GUARDIAN back in the day.

An above average Melodic Speed Metal album with an array of Thrash elements making this a highly enjoyable ride and continuing the legacy of Thomas Stauch In the vast history of European Power Metal while putting the emphasis on a very talented singer like Rob Lundgren to the forefront of the genre.