Saeko is a young vocalist from Japan that left her country in search of glory and fame. Yeah, it sounds cheesy but this gal fought against all odds and ended up in Germany where she released her debut album back in 2004 titled Above Heaven, Bellow Heaven. Her collaboration with the mighty Lars Ratz and Michael Ehre (both of Metalium) in production gave her debut a bold sound. Now she decided to collaborate once again with those two since the chemistry seemed right.
Indeed Life is a good album. Full of classic / Power Metal and a pumping production, it sounds quite fresh in 2006. Saeko's voice is quite strong still the lady can pull some emotional lines whenever that's necessary. At least she's not one of those opera Divas that have flooded Metal music the last decade. Musically speaking it is rather obvious that the album is not trying to brake barriers of originality. The songs pretty much walk upon known paths and I can't really say I was surprised by any of the tracks (regarding originality).
There are songs in both Japanese and English. Yeah, I liked that trick when Concerto Moon did it and I still like it now that Saeko does it. There is also a really cool Japanese version of Frank Sinatra's My Way (he's cool!!!). And just for the additional spice the album includes two live clips just for the world to see how Saeko stands on stage.
In conclusion this is nicely crafted yet safe classic / power metal. Fans of the genre can check it out, they wont be disappointed.