First off, I'll admit to never having heard of SCREAMING SHADOWS before I listened to their latest and fourth full length album "Legacy of Stone". And to be quite blunt, if the rest is even half as impressive as this, I really need to listen to their former records, because this is European style Power Metal of the highest quality.

Guitarist Francesco Marras is playing with the NWOBHM legends TYGERS OF PAN TANG and having seen them quite a few times in the last decade I must say he's doing a very good job there. But however successful he is in that band, he's always playing second fiddle to the original guitarist Robb Weir. In SCREAMING SHADOWS, he can step out of his shadow and become the centre of attraction. And he does that rather well.

The songs on "Legacy of Stone" are all well written, perfectly balanced and have that extra bit of quality that will keep your attention from the first note being played until the last note fades away. The diversity is very wide, but all within the Power Metal vein. They change tempo when needed, but always with the right amount of intensity. The one thing he could diversify more than he does is in the solos he plays, once too often he uses that neo classical trait of going up and down the tone ladder, as you're used to by YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, and it gets boring. He does have other tricks up his sleeve, and when he uses them, it sounds even more impressive.

But, and it's a big one, for me real star of "Legacy of Stone" is singer Alessandro Marras. When you first hear him, he sounds a bit like Axl Rose in his golden days, but that soon morphs into becoming a clone of the mighty Bruce Dickinson. And he keeps up the latter throughout the whole album, without fail, without falter. So much even that if you would have told me that this was the new solo album of the dear man, I immediately would have believed you. The quality of the songs, the musicianship but especially the vocals is beyond scrutiny.

So, if you would like to know how IRON MAIDEN would sound if they played Melodic Power Metal then you should definitely give "Legacy of Stone" a thorough listen. The same goes if you'd like the latest solo album of BRUCE DICKINSON. For me the only thing to do now is make sure that I get to experience these guys live, because if they can deliver on stage what they do on this album, I'll become a bonafide fan of SCREAMING SHADOWS.