I assume that a single word can describe the new album by the American metallers POWER THEORY- a miss. As it was once said, the road to hell is filled with good intentions, however, how much hell one could bear on his shoulders or ears for that matter? Its not that this band did that of a terrible work on their debut, it is just that some aspects were missed that I believe could have aided the album to achieve a larger magnitude. Part of my disappointment from this release was because that I found it to have some wonderful correlations between the material to other great bands, both European and American, as SAXON, METAL CHURCH, METALLICA, SINNER and PRIMAL FEAR. Of course there were other reasons for my discomfort from this one.

"Out Of The Ashes, Into The Fire... And Other Tales Of Insanity", a damn long title for an album, via the German Pure Steel Records, could have been one of the better releases of old school type of 80s US Metal. The band, while mixing the likes of Power, Thrash, Heavy and even 80s Hard Rock, created the template for something good. The production, even not in such a great quality as the overall sounded like it was a well recorded rehearsal, provided that chunky, depth, and even dirty, sound of NWOBHM mixed with German Metal, especially in the guitar setting. That guitar sound signature was very familiar as it belonged to PRIMAL FEAR's producer Achim Kohler. On paper, it looks as if this one looked as a sure blaster, well, not quite.
In general, I found great potential in this band. Running away from modern trends and keeping it straightforward under the roots 80s Metal music, has some benefits. The material had its fair share of power, as old American Metal always had, yet also a great soft feel in a few points. However, some musical elements as the riffages / rhythms and the vocal line could have undergone a few alterations in order to sound better and even more original.

I can take the album's opener, "Prevaricator"as a good example. This track had a fine mixing of Heavy / Power with some elements of Bay Area Thrash. Largely, this one is rather likable as it has a simple and traditional template to offer. Nevertheless, the track's main riff is banal and has been overused time and time again throughout its length and through Metal's history. The lead guitar section is poor, illiterate and lacks power. As for the vocals, frontman Dave Santini sounded as if he had more to give, but didn't. More or less, this is pretty much the same picture with the larger sum of the tracks on this album. Even "The Madness is Mine", as another note, which possessed a rather strong lead guitar line by Ballinger, didn't deliver the goods as it only left me wondering of what could have been. In the bottom line, "Out Of The Ashes, Into The Fire... And Other Tales Of Insanity"enlists a series of average 80s Metal tracks with almost no innovations, and even if those were infesting the release, those weren't felt hard enough. Let's just say that the music didn't make me register myself to the nearest asylum with all the insanity it claims to spread.

Another issue on the album that I just couldn't let go of is the vocal section. I think that Dave Santini,as the front line of the band, had a lot more to give than of what he showed on this release. His evil mid low singing is well done and has that American grip. With great vocal patterns of David Wayne and Blackie Lawless, his performance was bounded to be amazing. However, I had the feeling as if the guy was limiting himself. Whether Santini is capable or not, most of the material demanded some high pitch shrieks similar to those of Wayne's on the old METAL CHURCHalbums. Unfortunately there were none here.

From my end, the only two tracks that truly did justice for the band were the power ballad of "When the Rain Comes Down"and the Metal anthem of "Insane (Metal's Part Of My Brain)". The former sounded simple, harmonic and it went on smoothly. Santini had a voice pattern over there that sounded close to Mick Jagger, something which was quite weird when I first heard it, yet, nice after I got used to it. The latter was a head banging machine with no mercy, simple and to the point.

POWER THEORY has that kind of straightforward stuff that was the bread of 80s Metal, especially from the US. I believe that they have what it takes to upgrade their material while still keeping the 80s classic pattern in check.