SIPARIO, a female fronted Symphonic Power Metal group, was born in Italy in 2007. They are influenced by acts such as KAMELOT, AVANTASIA, NIGHTWISH, HALESTORM, and EPICA. Since 2007 they have produced two EPs and a debut album release "Oblivion - Dark Thorns" in 2014. The band is back with their sophomore effort "Eclipse of Sorrow". It comes in with 13 tracks and a listening time of just under 53 minutes.

The opening track "Echoes of Eternity" is outstanding. It gives just a small peek into what the rest of the album holds. The static intro tuning into a soft Symphonic medley, but you can hear how the power is about to take control and pull you so far in. The transition to "Ante Lucen" is phenomenal. There is no awkward pause and the riffage from "Echoes of Eternity" to "Ante Lucem" flows beautifully. Any one who has read previous reviews of mine, know that I am a sucker for dual vocals, clean and growled, and it doesn't really matter if they are male, female, or both male and female duality. This album nails it. Clean female fronted vocals, with growled male secondary vocals. What is so extraordinary in this second track is how each element syncs with the other. The guitars knock it out of the park, but even with such beauty come from those strings, there is so much more to this track than that, and that my friends makes these two inspirable tracks some of the best out there.

Track five, "Celestial Karma" slows down the album with an acoustic intro, that becomes electric after the one-minute mark, but the track is still toned down comparatively to what we've heard in the first tracks. The mid way guitar interlude is out of this world. It makes it even more so, that it is not a solo, but intertwined with the rest. This track is beautiful piece. "Desolation Guardians of Eden", track six, is my favorite track on the album. There is so much mystery here, in the vocals, in the music, in the story. There is a hardness in this track seen in many Alternative Metal and Rock, which makes the track and interesting mixture of subgenres mingled together to create something bewitching.

Track twelve, "Eclipse" is perfect and powerful. The vocals are potent. The keyboard and guitar war is unparalleled. This track is pretty intense and for the last vocally expressive track on the album, it closes the spoken portion out nicely. The final track of the album "A New Day" is the end. You can feel it with the heartbeat beginning. It is a lovely instrumental that rounds out what the album has been saying with a brilliantly spoken quote at the end. So powerful. SIPARIO has done an unbelievable job with this release. "Eclipse of Sorrow" is moving and powerful. There is so much beauty to be found here. There is so much musicianship to show. "Eclipse of Sorrow" is nothing short of perfection.