THE CITADEL is a progressive power metal band from Sweden. First off, they use far too many vocal effects. On a short album/EP, it stands out more since there simply isn't enough time to spread it over evenly. I see no reason to use so many effects even if the vocalist isn't that great. The band has been around since 1997, so I don't think they will change their vocals any time soon. You can hear various instruments at any given time playing through the guitars. I believe most of it is effects pedal with a bit of keyboard. It gets slightly confusing at times. In their quest to be unique they have succeeded in being odd. That's probably not what they set out to do, but that's the way it sounds to me.

The first song starts off innocently enough with a nice piano introduction and goes into a choral chant of "Their voices eternal", or that is as close as I can come to understanding the vocals. It really is kind of cool, but as soon as the lead vocalist chimes in with the effects the mood is instantly spoiled. It seems in the debut song that too many things are going on at the same time. "Demon's Eye" starts off with a catchy galloping of chords that you will recognize as soon as you hear it. Not that it is a copy of anything, but it is a classic example of heavy metal riffing. To me, it's the best part of the album. I guess that isn't saying a lot, but it truly is the best part. Part of me wonders why they released an EP at this stage of the game. As I mentioned, they have been around since 1997. One would think they would have more than one full length release due by now, their only full release coming in 2007.

Overall, I am not too fond of this album. It's a poorly conceived effort. The voiceovers in the song, "Heaven", stand out in bad way. I guess it was a way of keeping the singer from singing any more than he had to. The effects are too annoying and appear far too much to find this release enjoyable. I noticed on their myspace page that the first song in the play list has zero plays. I find it sad that they can't even get someone to listen to a song for free.
I take no joy in saying that this album is just bad. Avoid unless you can find something I could not on their myspace page. Note that the song with no plays is not on this release, so I chose not to listen to it to avoid being influenced in any way.