"Night Keeper" is the newest full length release from Italian Heavy Metallers SCREAMING SHADOWS. They don't really read any new ground here, and I don't think anyone was expecting them to anyway, so it's definitely not a disappointing album.

The band isn't so much a band in the traditional sense, more a platform for guitarist Francesco Marras to show everyone how awesome he is with the fretwork. He most certainly is awesome with the fretwork. Indeed, apart from Marras, bassist Antonio Doro is the only other regular band member. But this definitely isn't a bad thing; the album certainly didn't suggest to me that these were a group of people who weren't used to performing with each other (the other two members having only been in the band since 2010). Lead vocalist Gianluigi Girardi has got a very impressive set of vocal cords, and he uses them to fantastic effect during every song on the album - barring the instrumentals, of course. He's got a very powerful voice, and is reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson at times, especially on my personal favorite track, "Free Again". To be fair, it would probably be quite easy to draw parallels between this release and some of the classic IRON MAIDEN albums from the 80's. The drumming from Mat Stancioiu is to a very high standard as well, especially shining on the three instrumental tracks.

Another of my favorite tracks is "Planet X", with a clever little acoustic bit somewhere in the middle. Yes, it's been done before, but I still enjoy it every time it comes up. "Night Keeper" is a powerful album, full of great lyrics, and cool riffs. Sure, it's not much different from what they usually do, but I'm not sure it needs to be, because they certainly know what they're doing, and they do it well. It's definitely on the more traditional side of Heavy Metal, with guitar solos, vocals and riffs that know just how epic they are.

I think I would recommend "Night Keeper" to someone, especially if they're new to the genre, because it'd be a great induction. As I've mentioned before, the band doesn't really tread any new ground with the album, but that's fine, because it's pretty awesome.